One could be forgiven for thinking that machines are creative.
Just recently, IBM Watson created amovie trailerfor the horror filmMorgan(IBM).
The image below was transformed with this very net.
The key, however, to machines lack of true creativity lies in the wordcompute.
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At its core, these algorithms are simply manipulating symbols then concatenating the results in a meaningful way.
As John SearlearguedinMinds, Brains, and Programs, this does not represent understanding.
Many try and make a direct comparison between human computational power or storage capacity and that of computers.
Storage accuracy and retention is one area in which computers have unequivocally bested humans.
Computers are simply better with data.
Parallel computation is another area in which computers have the advantage.
Even the best mathematician cannot rival the sheer computational speed of a silicon-based system.
Now consider the modern labor market.
Towards the end of his video, Grey begins to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence for creative work.
This particular argument is a form of a theory first purported by Keynes inEconomic Possibilities for our Grandchildren.
This will eventually result in an intellectual paradise where individuals can pursue knowledge and beauty.
Grey characterizes one who performs this sort of artistic work as a special creative snowflake.
This reliance on popularity cant be sustainable in a society where everyone is a special creative snowflake.
Everything discussed so far paints a grim picture for human labor in its current form.
There is no place to run, the robots are coming.
In large part, they are.
Its the implications of this reshaping that many incorrectly characterize.
Clearly humans are different than computers in their current incarnation.
Searle primarily utilizes his Chinese room thought experiment to argue this point.
Other individuals outside feed Chinese characters to the person in the room.
To them, it appears as if the machine has a true knowledge of Chinese.
As we know, however, this is not the case.
Credit: wikicommonsEven consider the case where a machine truly is conscious: the dancing qualia thought experiment.
Proposed by David Chalmers,this scenariois designed to illustrate that machine consciousness is indeed possible.
Also connected to these same wires is a computer chip.
A researcher controls a toggle that allows him/her to switch between the chip or your actual brain being connected.
The researcher places a red apple in front of you and flips the switch back and forth.
You experience no interruption in your perception of the apple.
These characteristics allow us to represent things as concepts rather than just pure data.
Consider something as simple as numbers.
Researcherstested thisby showing subjects the idea of a number (lets say three) using dots.
This is why humans have such a hard time estimating large quantities or conceptualizing large numbers.
Other familiar numbers such as two or four feel completely distinct from three.
The numbers 61,967,278 and 89,595,540, however, feel about the same to the human brain.
Even though the difference between them is immense, we just conceptualize them as large.
To a computer, 31,967,278 is just as distinct to 89,595,540 as three is to four.
Its easy to say, then, that we should just make computers that mimic this conceptual behavior.
Despite the efforts of researchers and theorists, this is intrinsicallynotthe nature of how computers operate.
InComputing Machinery and Intelligence, Alan Turing uses the analogy of an onion to discuss human and machine consciousness.
If at no point did this curious individual encounter consciousness then the item in question is really a machine.
Individual neurons are not conscious, but at some point consciousness emerges.
Go further into the CPU and theres cache, ALUs, timers, and controllers.
Keep going, and theres sequential logic.
Peel another layer, and theres logic gates.
Delve into the logic gates and you find MOSFETs.
Go further and youre looking at individual atoms.
The one thing you dont find?
Humanitys safe-haven in the coming years will be exactly that consciousness.
Spontaneous thought, creative thinking, and a desire to challenge the world around us.
The currency of the future will be thought.
Story byAlex Wulff
Alex is a Harvard student, app developer, and Arduino enthusiast.
Check out his website, www.AlexWulff.com, and follow him on Medium.
(show all)Alex is a Harvard student, app developer, and Arduino enthusiast.
Check out his website,www.AlexWulff.com, and follow him onMedium.
