Can machines think?
Claude Shannon, the pioneer of information theory, was asked ‘Can machines think?“
His answer was; “Yes. I am a machine and you are a machine and you can think, can’t you?“
That quote has been attributed to both Claude Shannon and Alan Turing. Both were pioneer scientists at the dawn of the computer age. Both geniuses.
I can’t find a definitive answer as to whether this is an actual quote from either of them. But I can imagine, both of them might have said it.
So I thought I would ask ChatGPT whether it knew the answer.
It said I was wrong and the quote is from Alan Turing.
But hang on a sec…
I’m asking a machine what it thinks about a question to a human about whether he thinks machines can think.
This is all a bit meta.
For the record, I think machines can think. I also think we’re just (biological) machines. I see no reason why a computer emulation of the way the brain works should not produce the same thinking result.
The full question and answer from ChatGPT 4:
Charles: Claude Shannon was once asked ‘Can machines think’, his answer was: ‘Yes. I’m a machine and I can think can’t I?’. What did he mean by this?
ChatGPT:
It seems that there is a slight misquote or confusion in the question. The statement in question is not attributed to Claude Shannon, but rather to Alan Turing, a British mathematician and computer scientist. Turing is often considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.
In a famous 1950 paper, Turing proposed the “Imitation Game” (now known as the Turing Test) as a way to determine if machines can think. He was once asked, “Can machines think?” To which he replied, “Yes. I’m a machine and I can think, can’t I?”
In this context, Turing was playfully pointing out that humans are also biological machines, composed of complex systems and processes. By suggesting that he himself was a machine that could think, Turing was highlighting the idea that if biological machines (humans) can think, then it is conceivable that artificial machines could also be designed to think.
Turing’s comment should be understood more as a provocative statement that invites further exploration of the question, rather than as a definitive answer.
That’s a bit spooky.
