Great Philosophical Objections to Artificial Intelligence : The History and Legacy of the AI Wars

This book surveys and examines the most famous philosophical arguments against building a machine with human-level intelligence. From claims and counter-claims about the ability to implement consciousness, rationality, and meaning, to arguments about cognitive architecture, the book presents a vivid history of the clash between the philosophy and AI. Tellingly, the AI Wars are mostly quiet now. Explaining this crucial fact opens new paths to understanding the current resurgence AI (especially, deep learning AI and robotics), what happens when philosophy meets science, and the role of philosophy in the culture in which it is embedded. Organising the arguments into four core topics - 'Is AI possible', 'Architectures of the Mind', 'Mental Semantics and Mental Symbols' and 'Rationality and Creativity' - this book shows the debate that played out between the philosophers on both sides of the question, and, as well, the debate between philosophers and AI scientists and engineers building AI systems. Up-to-date and forward-looking, the book is packed with fresh insights and supporting material, including: - Accessible introductions to each war, explaining the background behind the main arguments against AI - Each chapter details what happened in the AI wars, the legacy of the attacks, and what new controversies are on the horizon. - Extensive bibliography of key readings Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Contents List of Figures Prologue: The AI Wars and Beyond Part I The AI Wars, 1950 to 2000 Introduction The First War: Is AI Even Possible? 1 Gödel and a Foundational Objection to AI 1. Introduction: Advances and Naysayers 2. John Randolph Lucas: AI’s First Naysayer 3. Gödel’s Theorem 4. What is Really Proved in Section 3. 5. An Objection to Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem 6. Lucas’ Objection Against AI 7. Does Lucas’s Argument Work? 8. Conclusion 2 How Would We Know If a Computer Was Intelligent? The Turing Test is Not the Answer 1. Computing Machinery and Intelligence 2. The Turing Test and the Imitation Game 3. What is Intelligence? 4. Subjectivity and Vagueness in the Turing Test: The Duck Test 5. Irrelevant Aspects of Intelligence 6. Attributions of Our Vague Notion of Intelligence 7. Modern Turing Tests 8. The Story of Mulan 9. The Turing Test as an Experiment 10. Using the Word ‘Intelligence’ 11. Machines Cannot be Intelligent: Turing’s Replies 12. The Argument from Consciousness 13. The Argument from Various Disabilities 14. The Lady Lovelace Objection 15. Magical Versus Reductive Explanations. 16. Conclusion The Second War: Architectures for Intelligence 3 How Computer Science Saved the Mind 1. Denying the Mind 2. Reclaiming the Mind: Logical Empiricism and Behaviourism Fail. 3. Reclaiming the Mind: Computer Science and AI Supply the Missing Key. 4 Implementing an Intelligence 1. Four Contenders 2. SYMBOL PROCESSORS 3. CONNECTIONIST AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS 4. EMBODIED, SITUATED COGNITION AND DYNAMIC SYSTEMS Second War Supplement 4.1: Quantum Architectures The Third War: Mental Semantics and Mental Symbols 5 The Strange Case of the Missing Meaning: Can Computers Think About Things? 1. Introduction: Semantic Meaning and Intelligence 2. The Problem of Meaning 3. The Unintelligent Machine 4. The Meaningless Machine 5. Must the Meaningless Machine be Unintelligent? 6. Aboutness as Interacting with the World: The Robot Pencil Sharpener 7. Some Lessons from the Robot Sharpener 8. The Physical Symbol System Hypothesis 9. Aboutness is Doing 10. Consciousness: What is it? 11. The Relation Between Aboutness and Consciousness 12. A New Problem: What is Consciousness for? The Standoff 13. Resolving the Standoff: Two Jobs for Consciousness 14. The Vexed Task of Implementing Consciousness 15. Conclusion to the Third War Third War Supplement 1 Examples of Unintelligent AI: Monointelligence is not real intelligence Third War Supplement 2 Standard Answers to the Chinese Room Argument Third War Supplement 3 Semantics and Causation Third War Supplement 4 Problems with Consciousness Third War Supplement 5 A Recent Skirmish in the AI Wars: Conscious Machines Third War Supplement 6 The Chinese Room and the Fantastic Voyage Variation The Fourth War: Rationality, Relevance, and Creativity 6 What is Relevant to What? The Frame Problem 1. Introduction: Why are Humans so Smart? 2. AI’s Failure: Predicting it versus Explaining it 3. How the Frame Problem Got Its Name: The Dream of Mechanization. 4. How the Frame Problem Got Its Name: Logic and AI. 5. The Frame Problem Comes into Focus. 6. The Frame Problem Metastasizes 7. How Ignoring the ‘Philosophy ’Frame Problem Limits AI to Monointelligences 8. The Dark Truth about the Frame Problem: There is no Solution, but there are Victims 9. The Bright Truth about Humans: We have ways of handling the Frame Problem . . . sometimes Fourth War Supplement 6.1 Analogy, Creativity, and the Frame Problem Part II Beyond the AI Wars: Issues for Today Introduction 7 What about Consciousness? 1. Introduction 2. Intuitions and Zombies 3. Navigating the Linguistic Minefield 4. Who’s Afraid of Automaticity? 5. One Kind of Thinking or Two? 6. Flat Phenomenology 7. What is the ‘Consciousness War’ About? 8 Ethical Issues Surrounding AI Applications 1. Introduction 2. AI Ethics and the New AI Wars 3. AI is Dead! Long Live the AI App 4. Actual AI wars: Semi-Autonomous and Autonomous Weapons 2 5. Autonomous Vehicles 6. Conclusion 9 Could Embodied AIs be Ethical Agents? 1. Introduction 2. Why Metaphysics Matters to Ethics (Broadly) 3. Consciousness, Metaphysics of Mind, and Ethics 4. Ethical AI (and AI Ethics) is a Hot Mess 5. Traditional AI Ethics: Hard Coding Ethical Rules 6. Consciousness as Ethical Grounding 7. When is a Robot a Moral Agent? 8. The Role of Consciousness in Artificial Ethical Agents 9. The Ethical Status of Artificial Agents – With and Without Consciousness 10. The Better Robots of our Nature 11. Bodies – Finally 12. Embodiment 13. Why We Need Bodies in AI Ethics 14. The Social Life of Embodied Ethical AIs 15. Artificial Phronēsis 16. How Can We Ethically Trust AI and Robotic Systems? 17. Conclusion Conclusion: Whither the AI Wars? Notes Bibliography Index Winner of the 2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic TitlesThis book surveys and examines the most famous philosophical arguments against building a machine with human-level intelligence. From claims and counter-claims about the ability to implement consciousness, rationality, and meaning, to arguments about cognitive architecture, the book presents a vivid history of the clash between the philosophy and AI. Tellingly, the AI Wars are mostly quiet now. Explaining this crucial fact opens new paths to understanding the current resurgence AI (especially, deep learning AI and robotics), what happens when philosophy meets science, and the role of philosophy in the culture in which it is embedded. Organising the arguments into four core topics -'Is AI possible','Architectures of the Mind','Mental Semantics and Mental Symbols'and'Rationality and Creativity'- this book shows the debate that played out between the philosophers on both sides of the question, and, as well, the debate between philosophers and AI scientists and engineers building AI systems. Up-to-date and forward-looking, the book is packed with fresh insights and supporting material, including: - Accessible introductions to each war, explaining the background behind the main arguments against AI- Each chapter details what happened in the AI wars, the legacy of the attacks, and what new controversies are on the horizon.- Extensive bibliography of key readings "This book surveys the most famous philosophical arguments against building a machine with human-level intelligence. From claims and counter-claims about the ability to implement consciousness, rationality, and meaning to arguments about cognitive architecture, it presents a vivid history of the clash between philosophy and AI. With introductions to each war and further readings, this forward-looking book is packed with fresh insights and supporting material"-- Provided by publisher