[{"id":141,"date":"2020-04-14T06:18:17","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T06:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=141"},"modified":"2020-04-14T06:18:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T06:18:17","slug":"work-cited","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/work-cited\/","title":{"rendered":"Work Cited"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anderson, David L. \u201cSearle and the Chinese Room Argument.\u201d <\/span>Searle and the Chinese Room Argument –<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Mind Project<\/span><\/i>, The Mind Project, 2006, www.mind.ilstu.edu\/curriculum\/searle_chinese_room\/searle_chinese_room.php.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anyoha, Rockwell. \u201cThe History of Artificial Intelligence.\u201d <\/span>Science in the News<\/span><\/i>, SITN Boston, 28 Aug.<\/span><\/p>\n

2017, sitn.hms.harvard.edu\/flash\/2017\/history-artificial-intelligence\/.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

James, Rebecca. \u201cUnderstanding Strong vs. Weak AI in a New Light.\u201d <\/span>Medium<\/span><\/i>, A Medium Corporation,<\/span><\/p>\n

30 Oct. 2019,becominghuman.ai\/understanding-strong-vs-weak-ai-in-a-new-light-890e4b09da02.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCarthy, John. \u201cBasic Questions.\u201d <\/span>Basic Questions<\/span><\/i>, Stanford University, 12 Nov. 2007,<\/span><\/p>\n

www-formal.stanford.edu\/jmc\/whatisai\/node1.html.<\/span><\/p>\n

Searle, John R. \u201cMinds, Brains, and Programs.\u201d <\/span>Behavioral and Brain Sciences<\/span><\/i>, vol. 3, no. 3, 1980, pp.<\/span><\/p>\n

417\u2013424., doi:10.1017\/s0140525x00005756.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-141","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":140,"date":"2020-04-14T06:03:16","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T06:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=140"},"modified":"2020-04-14T06:19:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T06:19:17","slug":"why-blog","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/why-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Blog?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When given the choice of multiple forms to tell, express, and explain John R. Searle\u2019s \u201cMind, brains, and programs\u201d, I immediately knew I wanted it to take the form of a blog. To me, blogs are a great form to put information and your opinion out in the world to your audience in a casual but still professional tone. One of the purposes of this assignment was, essentially, to translate and simplify a scholarly article into something that would be easier to understand for a general audience. I figured, what better way to make something so highly professional into more of a casual toned work than a blog. I thought a blog would be the perfect form for this assignment: re-telling and communicating information from a long and difficult to comprehend scholarly article in a way that anyone can understand. Searle\u2019s work and article are about a subject that I find to be extremely complex, complicated, and confusing. Although I\u2019ve heard about artificial intelligence a lot,\u00a0 I knew very little about the subject of artificial intelligence. With this page on my blog, I hope my audience leaves my page being more knowledgeable on not only the subject of artificial intelligence but also the importance of it. My goal was to present this information to my audience and for them to be able to make a conclusion about artificial intelligence after reading it. Of course, this page by itself does not include everything about artificial intelligence as it is focused on relaying the information I found in Searle\u2019s text, however, I do hope the reader is able to at least know what artificial intelligence is, what the Chinese Room argument is, why knowing about something like Searle\u2019s text is beneficial, and why role artificial intelligence plays in our world. I chose to use the timeline feature on Edspace because, although I was not doing an actual timeline, the timeline feature served as an aesthetically pleasing format to organize the information. I was able to divide up my information and section them in order to make it less difficult for the reader. I know that many times if I see something that is too long, I will be less inclined to read it. While I still wrote a lot, using the timeline feature to break the whole text apart was really beneficial in the sense that it made it more pleasing to the eye.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t choose to do a podcast, timeline, or vlog, because those forms couldn\u2019t convey what I wanted to convey. When I think of a podcast, I think of interviewing people or conversing with others. While it would be fine to do a podcast on my own as well, I didn\u2019t think it was best suited for this assignment or me because it didn\u2019t allow me to have the visual organization of my text. I had a vision in mind and thought it would be best to see something instead of listen. I would\u2019ve chosen a podcast if I was trying to converse with something else and have a discussion about artificial intelligence with them. I didn\u2019t choose to do a timeline because, to me, Searle\u2019s text doesn\u2019t really need a timeline to be expressed. The text is more philosophical than historical so it seemed like his whole article, other than his Chinese Room experiment, was showing different perspectives, ideas, claims, and arguments to further prove why his argument stands. I could not think of how I would structure my writing into a timeline form to communicate general information about artificial intelligence and Searle\u2019s work. Lastly, I did not want to do a vlog because other than the fact that I am not super familiar with video editing, I thought it might\u2019ve been boring for me to speak to the camera (audience) for so long.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Personally, the idea of using a blog to communicate this information was what jumped at me first. Whenever I want to know more about something, the first I do is type whatever it is into Google and find an article about it. Thinking about my process of finding information in a casual setting, I wanted to present the same for my audience. Professors and highly educated individuals of the artificial intelligence world are definitely not stopping by my blog, however, it is not meant for them. The goal of this blog page using the timeline feature was to teach the general public about artificial intelligence and to be specific, I wanted whoever read my blog to leave knowing these things: what is AI, what is the Chinese Room argument, why was it created, why is it important to know about. I also wanted my readers to be capable of making their own conclusions and decisions about the Chinese Room argument and AI after reading my blog. I tried my best to keep my personal opinion out of the blog for the purpose of solely communicating information. In conclusion, I hope the format and aesthetic of my blog was able to entice my audience to read my blog and that my blog was able to tell the general public a thing or two about AI and Searle\u2019s Chinese Room argument that they didn\u2019t know before reading my blog.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-140","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":139,"date":"2020-04-14T05:10:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T05:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=139"},"modified":"2020-04-14T05:10:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T05:10:09","slug":"whats-the-point","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/whats-the-point\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the point?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a human living in a world that is constantly changing and progressing, understanding, being aware and knowing the surface of artificial intelligence is beneficial, especially when AI most likely exists in some form in your day to day life. From the beginning, Searle poses the question, \u201cCould a machine think?\u201d; a question that he answers throughout the entirety of his work and scholarly article. After forming the Chinese Room argument and responding to its replies, Searle came to the conclusion that no, a machine can not think, at least not on its own. Searle tells us, \u201cThe aim of the Chinese room example was to try to show this by showing that as soon as we put something into the system that really does have intentionality (a man), and we program him with the formal program, you can see that the formal program carries no additional intentionality. It adds nothing, for example, to a man\u2019s ability to understand Chinese\u201d (Searle 422). This means that because the existence and actions of a program or robot are because we program them to do so, even adding in a person with intentionality doesn\u2019t change the fact that they are programmed to do whatever it is that they are doing. Even if you aren\u2019t interested in artificial intelligence or science for that matter, one could also benefit from this information about our brains and minds as humans. Opposers of AI might even be at ease knowing that it is impossible for a machine to really <\/span>simulate <\/span><\/i>the human mind. Searle concludes, \u201cThe point is that the brain\u2019s causal capacity to produce intentionality cannot consist in its instantiating a computer program\u2026 Whatever it is that the brain does to produce intentionality, it cannot consist in instantiating a program since no program, by itself, is sufficient for intentionality\u201d (Searle 424). It doesn\u2019t matter how the brain does it, the point is that the intentionality and individuality that humans have is impossible for a machine to have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, why should you care about any of this? You should care because whether you like it or not, you are a part of it. As long as you are living in this world, AI effects you. Ideas, conversations, thoughts, and arguments surrounding AI have existed since the heartless Tin man from the <\/span>Wizards of Oz<\/span><\/i>, to Alan Turing in the 1950s, to John Searle in 1980 (Anyoha). Needless to say, talk of AI is still alive today because AI has been only progressing ever since and won\u2019t stop. While it isn\u2019t necessary to indulge in heavy reading concerning artificial intelligence if it is not a desire for you, it doesn\u2019t hurt to be knowledgable on a subject that affects the world you live in. \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-139","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":138,"date":"2020-04-14T04:24:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=138"},"modified":"2020-04-14T04:40:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:40:37","slug":"replies-and-responses","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/replies-and-responses\/","title":{"rendered":"Replies and Responses"},"content":{"rendered":"

As with anything, there are various replies, counter-arguments, and opinions in response to Searle\u2019s Chinese Room argument. Searle\u2019s responses to these replies explore the results of the Chinese Room thought experiment even further in order to fully answer his question he began with: \u201cCould a machine think?\u201d (Searle 417). To effectively understand how Searle came to his final conclusion, we should take a look at these replies and Searle\u2019s responses to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of the replies argues that since the person is a part of the whole experiment and the communication between the outside people and the inside person is understandable, all parties basically understand. Searle argues back that one can think of it that way, however, the person still does not understand what anything on the pages means. He even explains why this theory that \u201cwhile a person doesn\u2019t understand Chinese, somehow the <\/span>conjunction <\/span><\/i>of that person and bits of paper might understand Chinese\u201d is \u201cunplausible to start with\u201d (Searle 419). Searle is saying that there is no point in saying that someone the person understands or the system understands in some way because no matter what the rule book or program says, the person still does not understand Chinese. Searle also goes on to say that, essentially, there are two versions of the person in the locked room: one version that doesn\u2019t understand and version two that understands by using the manipulation system. This further explains his response to the reply. While version two understands, that is only to an outsider\u2019s point of view and only possible by the manipulation system: the person does not actually understand it himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another reply replaces the person in the locked room with a robot and argues that instead of programming said robot to take and give symbols, it would be programmed to do anything a human would do. It would even have ways to see and act similar to a human, thus, having \u201cgenuine understanding and other mental states\u201d (Searle 420). Searle argues that, regardless, all the person\/machine in the locked room and the robot are doing is \u201cfollow[ing] formal instructions about manipulating formal symbols\u201d (Searle 420) and that because the robot is <\/span>programmed <\/span><\/i>to do what it does, the robot does not have other mental states nor does it have any intentional states. Although the robot would be doing considered intentional actions, perceiving, understanding, and more, it is only doing these things by following the program, not because the robot itself is choosing to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A third reply argues that if you were to program a computer \u201cwith all the synapses of the human brain\u2026 the whole behavior of the robot is indistinguishable from human behavior\u201d (Searle 421) it would be a unified system. Searle responds to this reply by comparing an animal with a robot. In short, he says that animals are the same as us not only because we both have eyes, ears, a nose and so on, but also because we both have mental states, intentions, and consciousness. Sure we can assume the same with robots until we have a reason to question it, which we do. The fact that anything a robot does is based on and rooted in the program written by a human cancels out any possible way for a robot to have a mental state or anything else that makes it its own.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What all of these replies and all of Searle\u2019s responses come down to is the fact that robots and machines can duplicate humans, but can\u2019t simulate human life. A crucial point Searle makes is that while AI can exist without having a cognitive state, human life can not. While a machine could do anything and everything a human does, there is still a big difference between machine and human. Machines will never be able to think on their own or have intentionality by themselves as long as they are running on man-made computer programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-138","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":137,"date":"2020-04-14T04:23:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=137"},"modified":"2020-04-14T04:26:43","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:26:43","slug":"the-chinese-room-argument","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/the-chinese-room-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chinese Room Argument"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chinese Room Argument is a thought experiment created by John Searle with the purpose to answer the question of whether or not a machine could think. His experiment inspires thoughts on intentionality, understanding, consciousness, and thinking. It is inspired by the work of Roger Schank which was a program that attempted to \u201csimulate the human ability to understand stories\u201d (Searle 417). Basically, if a person and a machine were to be told a story and asked to answer questions about the story, both of them could. The machine could answer the same questions similarly if given the correct information that humans have regarding the story. However, in contrast to what supporters of strong AI would say, the catch is that although the machine is returning almost the exact same answers, the machine doesn\u2019t actually <\/span>understand <\/span><\/i>the story or that it is a story while the human does. Now that we\u2019ve established Searle\u2019s inspiration, onto the Chinese Room.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Chinese Room works as follows. There is an English-speaking person in a locked room who does not know any Chinese at all. This person receives 3 batches of Chinese characters that the person must respond to follow some sort of rule book. The first batch of Chinese characters, the person realizes that on the page are Chinese characters that the person does not and will not understand whatsoever. The second batch of Chinese characters, the person receives a set of rules in English that help the person correlate the, now, two batches of characters. The third batch of Chinese characters, the person receives instructions with it that are in English which helps the person correlate this batch with the previous batches of Chinese characters and also what to give back in response. The person in the locked room is unaware that the \u201cfirst batch [is] \u201ca script\u201d…the second batch [is] a \u201cstory,\u201d… the third batch [is] \u201cquestions\u201d (Searle 418). They also refer to the person\u2019s responses to the third batch to be \u201canswers to the questions\u201d and the rules and instructions that were given in English as \u201cthe program\u201d (Searle 418). He then goes further with the thought experiment and says how eventually, the person got really good at this exchange: being given batches of Chinese characters to correlate with each other resulting in spitting back a response utilizing the rules in English. The person now is so good at doing this input and output action that the people outside of the room think it is a native Chinese speaker who is inside of the locked room. Searle explains how although to an outsider\u2019s view, the person in the locked room is a Chinese speaker, the person doesn\u2019t actually know or understand anything at all. The person \u201csimply behave[s] like a computer\u201d (Searle 418).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The whole purpose of this thought experiment is to exploit how the person seems to understand everything but actually understands nothing at all. Now, Searle applies this thought experiment to a program, as if the person inside was a machine functioning by a written computer program. While \u201cthe claims made by strong AI are the programmed computer understand the stories and that the program in some sense explains human understanding\u201d (Searle 418), Searle argues against these claims that, essentially, the person has no possibility of actually understanding what the Chinese characters mean and that the person simply follows the \u201cprogram\u201d which \u201cdoes not provide sufficient conditions of understanding\u201d (Searle 418). Yes, the person does respond in a way that you would think they understand, however, the person is simply functioning accordingly to the program while understanding nothing. If you replace the word \u201cperson\u201d with \u201cmachine\u201d, you can understand the direct parallel between the person in the locked room and a hypothetical machine that can easily take its place for the sake of the thought experiment. This thought experiment explains how while the person or machine inside of the locked room is seen as a Chinese speaker to an outside perspective, the person or machine inside does not understand any of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ultimately with the Chinese Room argument, Searle concludes that machines aren\u2019t able to actually understand what they are given no matter what they do because it is all programmed. The machine does not think, learn, or understand on its own and only <\/span>appears <\/span><\/i>to do so because of its program.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-137","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":136,"date":"2020-04-14T04:22:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=136"},"modified":"2020-04-14T04:26:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:26:53","slug":"this-versus-that","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/this-versus-that\/","title":{"rendered":"This Versus That"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before going in-depth with the work done by John Searle, it is important to be aware of the differences between certain things: the difference between strong AI and weak AI, the brain and the mind, and simulation and duplication. First, we\u2019ll look at the difference between strong AI and weak AI. Like many other things, there are many forms and levels of artificial intelligence. According to an article from the blog site, Medium, strong AI has the ability to adapt to changes in surrounding environments and to plan for the future by using prior experience and knowledge; strong ai can also apply knowledge pulled from different domains (James). Contrastingly, weak AI \u201crefers to any AI that responds to situations based on a pre-fed set of information\u201d (James). Throughout Searle\u2019s work that we explore, he only refers to AI in the version of strong AI. He defines the difference between strong AI and weak AI. In strong AI, the computer is not only a tool to study the mind but also has a mind on its own with cognitive states when programmed accordingly, while in weak AI, computers are only just a \u201cvery powerful tool\u201d to study the mind (Searle 417).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Second, we\u2019ll define the difference between the brain and the mind. While the brain is the actual organ and system inside of your head, the mind is what allows you to be yourself. Your mind is your consciousness that includes your thoughts, opinions, beliefs, feelings, and all the things that make us \u201chuman\u201d. In simple terms, you can physically see one\u2019s brain but you can\u2019t see one\u2019s mind. Before reading Searle\u2019s work, I never really thought about the actual difference between a brain and a mind, however, the difference is worlds apart when you think about it. In relation to, say, a computer program and a computer. The brain is the computer and the mind is the computer program: \u201cthe mind is to the brain as the program is to the hardware\u201d (Searle 421). I bring up this comparison because Searle mentions the brain and mind in relation to strong AI. He explains how we don\u2019t need to understand the brain to have strong AI since it is the mind that we are more focused on (Searle 421).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Third, we\u2019ll clarify the difference between simulation and duplication. Searle speaks on how machines can duplicate anything humans do but will never be able to actually simulate humans because they complete these human-like actions by programs that are man-made (Searle 423). So, how is a duplicating different from simulating. Duplicating is simply copying the same actions and even the same thoughts. However, in order to completely simulate something like the human mind, every action and thought needs to be created the same way. If the programs that duplicate minds are made by anything other than the running program itself, that means the program is simply being told what to do and things like our minds don\u2019t work that way. For the sake of not getting confused, imagine yourself playing a virtual reality game. Your character in the virtual reality game is simply a duplication of yourself. Every move it makes, you are making that move to force the character to do the same: the character is a double of you. Now imagine playing The Sims game. Your characters in The Sims game are a simulation of a human because while you are away from the game entirely, it has a mind of its own; it eats, sleeps, and does things without any control from you (of course this is not taking into consideration that The Sims game is a computer program). This also relates back to comprehending the difference between the brain and the mind. The duplication does not have a mind of its own while the simulation does. Defining the difference between strong AI and weak AI, the brain and the mind, and duplication and simulation will help us better understand the thoughts of Searle within his work.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-136","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":131,"date":"2020-04-14T04:16:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=131"},"modified":"2020-04-14T04:27:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:27:03","slug":"what-is-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/what-is-artificial-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Artificial Intelligence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before we can start discussing experiments being done and arguments being made about artificial intelligence, we must first comprehend and define what artificial intelligence actually is. Artificial intelligence referred to as \u201cAI\u201d, is said, in the words of John McCarthy, to be that, \u201cIt is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence\u201d (McCarthy). In short, McCarthy says artificial intelligence to be the smart computer programs that are developed to act as similar to human intelligence as possible. These intelligent computer programs are man-made programs that then are possibly applied to machines for the purpose of doing something a human would do or beyond that. For example, artificial intelligence makes it possible for us to have virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa on our smartphones. You may not think much or even use things like Siri and Alexa, however, what makes them exist is the computer program that has been created for them to simulate a human assisting you in real-time. AI is also used and involved in countless things that allow us to live in our world today. Some might immediately think of the robots, self-driving cars, and futuristic type gadgets, however, AI exists in many more things than just those. While artificial intelligence is constantly being studied and improved as we progress as a society and in science, there are arguments to be made. Arguments include the dangers, ethicalities, benefits, advantages, and more. Discussions and conversations surrounding AI not only include these arguments, but also other concerns and thoughts. The scholarly text mentioned before by John Searle explores the concept of these computer programs being individuals: thinking, deciding, choosing by themselves. Searle poses the question, \u201cCould a machine think?\u201d (Searle 417). As we explore the subject of whether machines can or can\u2019t think, we need to understand the factors, purposes, and actions of AI; to continue to discover what AI is and could be capable of, we\u2019ll look at Searle\u2019s thought experiment and the talk surrounding it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-131","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":129,"date":"2020-04-14T04:12:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/?post_type=te_announcements&p=129"},"modified":"2020-04-14T04:28:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T04:28:38","slug":"intro","status":"publish","type":"te_announcements","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/announcement\/intro\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unless you live under a rock, there is some form of artificial intelligence in your daily life whether it is your smartphone, thermostat, navigation, or email. Many of us utilize artificial intelligence in numerous ways in our day to day lives without even realizing it. Artificial intelligence takes on a variety of forms and there are countless experiments, conversations, arguments, and opinions on the matter. In September of 1980, American philosopher, John R. Searle, published a scholarly text within \u201cThe Behavioral And Brain Sciences (1980)\u201d: <\/span>Minds, brains, and programs<\/span><\/i>. Searle\u2019s text includes a \u201cgedankenexperiment\u201d, otherwise known as a thought experiment, named the Chinese Room Argument while applying the concept of the work and program of Roger Schank (Searle). The Chinese Room Argument is a well-known inspiration to the wide range of conversations surrounding the topic of artificial intelligence. To understand, discuss, and form thoughts on the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence in our world, one must contain knowledge on the subject at hand and the experiments and arguments that exist.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-129","te_announcements","type-te_announcements","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"announcement_date":"Announcement Date: April 14, 2020","announcement_image":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/announcement"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/te_announcements"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/bl2951a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]