The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.
By
Justin Workman
on July 02, 2007
-- Edsger Dijkstra
Agreed
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89.5% 10.5%
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Discussion (5)
I might agree if "think" weren't so ambiguous. I do think it's an interesting question whether a computer can think *like a human*, only because it's an interesting question whether thinking has anything to do with being "human". (I think, anyway.)
For the sake of this claim, let us say that "think" means "think as a human thinks."
I agree: a submarine swimming like a fish is no less interesting than a computer thinking like a human (and vice versa). The human desire to animate the inanimate is just downright interesting to me.
Swimming submarines would be awesome.
D'A
Yeah, I'm actually pretty interested in the question of whether a submarine can swim, now. Both in the definitional sense ("is what a submarine normally does 'swimming'?") and the technical sense ("can a submarine be made to move in a way that's more like a fish or a human swimming?").