But if computers can think the obvious question that fallows is do they have minds? Functionalism is today’s dominant mind theory. Functionalism theory argues that having a mind does not require having a brain. Mental states can also happen in other substances. ( 355 ). So mental states can be realized by c-fibers in humans or a silicon chip in computers. And for this reason we define mental states by their functions (355), for example pain surfs as a function to warn creatures that physical damage is happening. Hillary Putnam was one the people responsible for advancing this theory, in his article The Nature of Mental States he pokes holes in other mind theories, but he also argues effectively for Functionalism theory. He points to the fact that different creatures are made of different matter and yet they are all capable of feeling pain. So when
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Although the Artificial Intelligence field has made progress they don’t appear to be close to developing a conscious robot yet. It is pretty safe to conclude that computers today don’t have consciousness and therefore they don’t have a mind. An example of a conscious robot that has a mind will probably look something like the robot Ava from the movie Ex-Machina. Throughout the movie Ava demonstrates that she knows what she is relation to the world. She knows that she is an AI that must act like human, and if she fails to do so she will probably be shutdown. She also demonstrates the desire not to get shutdown, we see this when she converses with Caleb. She also demonstrates the ability to take actions to fulfill her desires, she is able to manipulate Caleb into helping her escape. It is safe to say that she has that consciousness function as a part of her overall system, only time will tell if we can develop a consciousness robot like Ava. And if we do we must recognize for what it is, and that is a robot with a
Although the Artificial Intelligence field has made progress they don’t appear to be close to developing a conscious robot yet. It is pretty safe to conclude that computers today don’t have consciousness and therefore they don’t have a mind. An example of a conscious robot that has a mind will probably look something like the robot Ava from the movie Ex-Machina. Throughout the movie Ava demonstrates that she knows what she is relation to the world. She knows that she is an AI that must act like human, and if she fails to do so she will probably be shutdown. She also demonstrates the desire not to get shutdown, we see this when she converses with Caleb. She also demonstrates the ability to take actions to fulfill her desires, she is able to manipulate Caleb into helping her escape. It is safe to say that she has that consciousness function as a part of her overall system, only time will tell if we can develop a consciousness robot like Ava. And if we do we must recognize for what it is, and that is a robot with a