Comment by leesec
8 years ago
>No computer will ever demonstrate actual intelligence, which is the ability to bring a new and unforeseen solution to an existing problem.
This is already false, given the many examples of machine learning out performing humans in a variety of tasks. Google's data center efficiency comes to mind (IIRC saving 30% in energy usage over human-found solutions). So does AlphaGO.
Outperforming in these cases just means "doing it faster," as I said. There is no algorithm which can produce results which were not inherent in the algorithm itself. There is no software which can "jump the box" and come up with a solution which was not already present in the software as it was written. The computer is merely processing all the options faster than a human could.
When we say that software "found" something new, it's only that it found it faster than we would, using the algorithm we wrote.
What makes you think there is anything in the human mind that is not inherent in the algorithms encoded in the human mind itself?
What you are effectively arguing for is a supernatural element to the brain. You're free to believe that of course, but it is pointless to have this discussion if people on side believe in a materialistic universe and people on the other side believe part of the process does not follow the natural laws of our universe.
With a materialistic interpretation, there is simply no reasonable argument for why a brain is anything but a computer we don't understand well enough yet.
> There is no algorithm which can produce results which were not inherent in the algorithm itself.
There are algorithms that can find tumors or Alzheimer signs on medical imagery where expert doctors can't see them.
This is not just "doing it faster", it's doing it differently in a way that we cannot do.
> The computer is merely processing all the options faster than a human could
No, it's also processing many, many more options. You know how you can keep a bunch of stuff in short term memory while working on a problem and that helps you get a good grasp of it so you can get that insight. Now imagine if you could keep thousands of concepts and ideas in your short term memory while you are pondering a problem. You are going to find solutions you wouldn't have the means to thought otherwise. It's not just speed, it's breadth of reasoning, and it let you see new horizons.
> There is no algorithm which can produce results which were not inherent in the algorithm itself.
This is a tautology. The same is true for humans.
The interesting thing is that a computer, like a human, can learn on its own something that a human did not tell it. That's what machine learning does.
A random number generator or binary enumerator could output results that were not inherent in its programming.
Or if you pose they don't, then you need to explain better what is so special about human brains that they can produce results not baked in by natural programming.
Yeah I guess if you're going to change the definition of what you said than you are right.
The point stands that ML is better than human at certain tasks and does it in a different, non-human-understandable way.