The mathematical genius Alan Turing is famously known for proposing that if a machine behaves as intelligently as a human being, then it is as intelligent as a human being. This assertion was widely unsupported in the mid twentieth century when it was first declared by Turing. At this point in time intelligent machines and computer science were new inventions, recognised by very few individuals, and understood by fewer. Since the invention of computer processors, their speeds have been discovered to double approximately every two years, as suggested by Moore’s Law. This exponential growth has initiated a rapid inflation in digital computational speed. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the product of these great processer speeds and the programmed
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What does it mean for a machine to be as intelligent as a human being? More so, what will happen when an intelligent machine surpasses this threshold? The Law of Accelerated Returns, proposed by the acclaimed futurist Ray Kurzweil, predicts that this will stimulate an era of exponential technological growth. He speculates that further technological growth in 21st century will be comparable to 20,000 years of progress at the current rate. Kurzweil’s Law suggests that when computer intelligence exceeds human intelligence – more specifically, when artificial intelligence is able to improve upon itself – the human race will experience a technological singularity. This Singularity refers explicitly to the point in time when the rate of technological growth is so rapid that it is considered limitless and beyond the realm of human …show more content…
Since biological neural activity has not been proven to exclusively involve entities equivalent to bits – as a computer’s processor does – digital computation cannot be paralleled to the human brain. Consequently, a progressive approach to computation has been devised that is based off the theories of quantum mechanics, making it more accurate in comparison to biological systems. Quantum computers aim to harness the phenomenon that is experienced by atoms at a molecular level, and use it to compute at expeditious speeds. These computers have various advantages over digital computers because they use quantum bits, or qubits, to encode data. Qubits are different from digital bits in that instead of being in one of two states – 0 or 1 – qubits can be in any superposition of the two states simultaneously. Many algorithms that are used to solve real-world problems involve polynomials, which produce data that quickly becomes too large for digital bits to store. Qubits dramatically outperform digital bits because their ability to exist in two states at once allows them to store and process infinite amounts of data. Furthermore, qubits experience a quantum phenomenon called entanglement: in quantum mechanics this refers to an intertwining of two or more atoms caused by their interactions. When atoms – or qubits in the case of quantum
What does it mean for a machine to be as intelligent as a human being? More so, what will happen when an intelligent machine surpasses this threshold? The Law of Accelerated Returns, proposed by the acclaimed futurist Ray Kurzweil, predicts that this will stimulate an era of exponential technological growth. He speculates that further technological growth in 21st century will be comparable to 20,000 years of progress at the current rate. Kurzweil’s Law suggests that when computer intelligence exceeds human intelligence – more specifically, when artificial intelligence is able to improve upon itself – the human race will experience a technological singularity. This Singularity refers explicitly to the point in time when the rate of technological growth is so rapid that it is considered limitless and beyond the realm of human …show more content…
Since biological neural activity has not been proven to exclusively involve entities equivalent to bits – as a computer’s processor does – digital computation cannot be paralleled to the human brain. Consequently, a progressive approach to computation has been devised that is based off the theories of quantum mechanics, making it more accurate in comparison to biological systems. Quantum computers aim to harness the phenomenon that is experienced by atoms at a molecular level, and use it to compute at expeditious speeds. These computers have various advantages over digital computers because they use quantum bits, or qubits, to encode data. Qubits are different from digital bits in that instead of being in one of two states – 0 or 1 – qubits can be in any superposition of the two states simultaneously. Many algorithms that are used to solve real-world problems involve polynomials, which produce data that quickly becomes too large for digital bits to store. Qubits dramatically outperform digital bits because their ability to exist in two states at once allows them to store and process infinite amounts of data. Furthermore, qubits experience a quantum phenomenon called entanglement: in quantum mechanics this refers to an intertwining of two or more atoms caused by their interactions. When atoms – or qubits in the case of quantum