¶ … Computers think final
Can Computers Think
Like the debate for and against marijuana, the computer is also a subject of discussion among people. Man has not yet settled if computer can actually think or not. The computers have a brain that has memory but it is until now under discussion whether this brain helps in keeping and processing information alone or does it also help in decision making process. The process of thinking may be defined as method by which an entity considers and create ideas based on opinions and reasoning. While some think that the computers can not only think but also tell right from wrong, there are others that believe that role of computers is only to make choice between available options. The "cannot think" opinion holders argue that a computer is useless without the operating system and programs designed by the programmers and coders (O'Regan, 2012). The performance and capacity of computers is limited to the boundaries set by codes and the codes define parameters of work of the computers; they themselves cannot decide what to do and how to do it in a perfect manner. They propose that intelligence of a machine is subset of intelligence of the maker...
Humanistic thinking involves values and moral considerations too but the computers, the opponent suggest, can only select the option that is better suitable based on the criteria provided. Thus, the computers cannot even come up with their own decision making criteria.
On the other hand, the proponents of the idea that computers can think describe thinking as a memory-based process and they suggest that intuition and feelings are not integral parts of thinking. Thus, given memory, the computers can reflect to the
history thus they can think and make decisions too (McGinnis, 2013). The computers were initially used simply for purpose of calculation and data manipulation. The role of computers has evolved ever since and today they can even project future trends in an industry and can tell about the sales of the company in the next quarter based on the data of the previous quarters. Thus, many consider that this capacity of computers can be called thinking because if there were no computers, man would be carrying out these tasks. Thus, computers think on behalf of man and save his time too. The proponents not only have no
doubt that computers can think but also they say that computers are better at thinking even than man himself.
A research on the thinking capacity of computers can be carried out to investigate what actually thinking is and how the scientists define this process in the light of the basic concepts of
biology. The thinking process can be understood in terms of
hardware (brain) and
software (process) that will help relate the thinking capacity of man and the computers. While it is not impossible that the machine can have the level of intelligence of the developer, but the question is whether man has achieved that status yet or not. The discussion is not to find merely if this can happen or not but to find whether at present computers can think or not and also…
