Artificial intelligence proponents admire supercomputers that are “smarter” than humans. For example, in 1997, the computer Deep Blue beat world champion Garry Kasparov at chess. However, you should not make hasty conclusions. A person learns much faster than a computer. Even a six-year-old child, after a short training, has a better knowledge and understanding of the game of chess than the most advanced supercomputer. What allows a person to be so effective? Let's take a look at the principles underlying brain activity.
- Lack of a single governing body. In a gigantic, complex network of neurons, there is no central control center where all decisions are made. Moreover, the way the network operates is not so much logical as it is associative.
- Plastic. Nerve cells remain unchanged throughout life, but the connections between them constantly change, and the networks themselves are rebuilt. To store new information or a skill, we don’t need new neurons—we just need to create new connections.
- Reliability. A person may lose many cells (due to injury or with age), but this will not harm the system as a whole. The fact is that the brain continuously programs and reprograms itself, creates new connections and rebuilds old ones.
- One task at a time. We can only qualitatively think about one thought at a time. When there are a lot of thoughts, they “wander” in the head and get mixed up; This kind of “thinking” will not help effectively solve any problem.
- The brain either receives information or processes it. A person either receives information from the senses and responds instantly using reflexes, or processes the data and stores it in long-term memory. In other words, the reflexive and archiving brains compete for the amount of RAM; they cannot each turn on at full capacity at the same time.
- The brain's ability to think, even about things that don't exist(for example, about the past and the future). He is slow, needs concentration, processes information sequentially, thinking one thought at a time, and gets tired easily. He is lazy - unless conscious effort is made, he will not turn on, leaving decision-making to the reflexive brain (which is often wrong).
And here is what Garry Kasparov responded to his loss to the computer:
« Proponents of artificial intelligence hoped to see a computer that thought and played chess like a human, with human creativity and intuition. However, they saw only a machine capable of calculating 200 million possible moves per second and winning only thanks to “brute force,” that is, the ability to crunch huge amounts of numerical data».
We love to fantasize and, childishly, naively, we want to believe that the mind, created artificially, will become more than just an assistant for us in everyday affairs, but a friend, companion and equal partner. We dream that artificial intelligence will be able to communicate, create, write songs, develop independently, fall in love and joke.
Video: excerpt from the film “The Bicentennial Man” based on the story by Isaac Asimov
But let's be realistic: at the moment, what we call artificial intelligence are computer programs designed to simulate the processes of human thinking. Actually, this is the name of the science that studies the problems of recreating intelligent actions and reasoning with the help of artificial devices and computing systems. The problem is that we do not understand all the mechanisms of human intelligence, and therefore we cannot create a mind identical to the human one. Moreover, it seems that we are not very keen to understand anything about our minds. There is still debate in science about how real consciousness is. It is when studying our mind (with the help of our own mind) that science comes to a dead end. Science, as a field of activity striving for objectivity, does not know from which side to approach the subjective phenomenon of human consciousness (subjective in the sense that it consists of subjective sensations, feelings and perceptions).
Basic questions about consciousness:
Where does a person think?
How does he think about this place?
This problem has been dealt with since the 80s of the last century. John Searle, famous American philosopher, professor at the University of California, leading world expert in the philosophy of artificial intelligence. He is also a man with an indescribable sense of humor. Spend 15 pleasant minutes with John Searle and his mind:
It was Searle who raised the issue of so-called “strong and weak artificial intelligence.”
Weak artificial intelligence are computer programs that are expected to solve a narrow range of predefined problems.
Strong artificial intelligence- these are programs that will be able to think, make decisions, be aware of themselves and the environment; at the same time, they will not necessarily be a model of the human mind. Whether strong artificial intelligence will develop the ability to empathize remains unknown, even in theory.
In the middle of the 20th century, when the first computers were created and the theory of algorithms was born, the question of artificial intelligence was first raised in the scientific community.
1950
In 1950, Alan Turing, an English mathematician with a difficult fate, published an article entitled "Can a machine think?". In the article, he poses the question: how different is artificial thinking from human thinking? To answer this question, he invents an empirical test, which later became known as the Turing test.
Standard interpretation of the Turing test:
A person interacts with one computer and one person. Based on the answers to the questions, he must determine who he is talking to: a person or a computer program. The purpose of a computer program is to mislead a person into making the wrong choice.
It is expected that this test will help determine the moment when a machine becomes equal to a human in terms of intelligence.
2014
In 2014, it happened: a bot program won the Turing test. The program, created by Russian developers, pretended to be a thirteen-year-old teenager from Odessa under the pseudonym Eugene Goostman. During a series of tests at the British University of Reading, Eugene was able to convince 30% of the judges that he was human.
Does this mean that humanity has already achieved artificial intelligence? No. The developers themselves say that the Turing test is by no means a litmus test that can say: “That’s it, the machines have gotten wiser, and you, pathetic little people, can rest.” This only indicates the development of mathematical algorithms and the ability of programs to operate with syntactic means characteristic of the human language. Wouldn’t it occur to you to call a smartphone smart that recognizes your speech and reacts to it with a certain sequence of actions? Chatbot Eugene is more likely to be a representative of weak intelligence than strong one. It is not a self-learning or self-aware system.
By the way, about the difficult fate of Turing himself:
This English scientist, after World War II, was involved in breaking the ciphers of the Nazi Enigma cipher machine. Soon after the work began, he was accused of homosexuality and agreed to undergo forced hormone therapy. In addition, he was deprived of access to classified materials and was forced to stop research. Turing died of cyanide poisoning in 1954, according to official version- due to suicide. And last year, the great cryptographer and mathematician was posthumously pardoned by the British Queen.
1997
In 1997, a super-powerful computer from IBM called Deep Blue beats multiple chess champion Garry Kasparov. It must be said that Kasparov played with this computer a year earlier and won a landslide victory 4:2. Over the course of a year, IBM almost doubled its capacity. This time Kasparov lost unexpectedly, giving up on move 45. There are opinions that when analyzing the controversial 44th move, the champion and his team could well have overestimated the strength of the computer, which led to a hasty capitulation.
Kasparov, at the closing ceremony of this historic game, demanded revenge and accused IBM of unfair play (oh, this is so human!), but IBM instead disbanded the Deep Blue team. But supercomputers lived on, and their power is now used for molecular modeling at the Swiss Blue Brain Center.
2011
IBM again with its development called . This system is capable of perceiving human speech and searching using algorithms. Watson played in the American game Jeopardy in 2011! (Russian equivalent - “Own Game”), where she beat both her opponents.
2012
Google, the undoubted leader in the production of services of the future, in 2010 began testing cars equipped with a special unmanned control system. The system collects information from Google Street View and reads the real situation from video cameras, a sensor on the roof, in the front of the car and a sensor on the rear wheel. The project involves 10 cars, 12 drivers and 15 engineers. To date, unmanned Google cars have already traveled more than 500 thousand kilometers with minimal human intervention.
We have listed only some of the most significant examples of artificial intelligence systems and their achievements. It turns out that even the most advanced of them are more likely to be considered weak artificial intelligence than strong. There is no need to fear the uprising of machines and we can continue to develop more subtle algorithms for computer-human interaction.
And in the end, we invite you to watch a scientific and philosophical parable from TsentrNauchFilm, filmed in 1976. It opens with a dialogue from a conversation with Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov, founder of computer science and cybernetics in the USSR:
Victor Mikhailovich, will an artificial intelligence ever be created that is in no way inferior to human intelligence? Could you answer categorically: yes or no?
- If you please. Yes and yes again. This will probably happen before the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The twenty-first century is the century of information technology. Five-year-old children are already playing educational games with all their might. Who would have thought that children would think an order of magnitude higher than their parents regarding the computer, but this is so. The computer is an integral part of the life of a modern person. If you think about how unique this invention is, you involuntarily begin to understand how unique the person himself is, since he invented it and uses it in almost everything. Progress in information technology like a rhinoceros - it accelerated slowly, and now it is almost impossible to stop it. Component manufacturers are forced to create more advanced products in a competitive environment. In this article I want to make a comparison between man and computer, what is common between us and the electronic creations of the human mind.
Once again, going out into the street, I imagined myself as a part of the big city. I remembered an interesting conversation with an unfamiliar person on the train, where he so often mentioned to me that I am part of the system, and all my movements, for the most part, fit within the framework of generally accepted rules and norms. I am like the same electron that, in an organized column of its own kind, moves in a given direction along the wires. It is somewhat unpleasant to feel predictable and dependent, surrendering to the free flow of life, relying only on desires and instincts. But what makes us different from machines is that we can act consciously.
Human brain - most powerful computer, which also, while receiving food, solves a certain kind of problem. Take vision for example. There is no video in the world as clear as reality flows into our eyes clearly and softly. There is no camera that can process the same number of pixels as the human brain. Have you seen a video camera with two hundred and sixty megapixels on sale?! ...but you look at it every day. The pupil contracts and dilates through small muscles in order to focus the image, it all depends on where we intend to look, how close or how far. When taking a photo or video camera, the same operation is performed by the lens. The image is perceived by a microscopic matrix, like the retina of the eye. The video camera processor processes each pixel and arranges the bits in a specific order, which is specified by the recording and playback program. At the same time, on the display we see a reflection of the reality that this camera is capable of seeing and reproducing. There are many on the market various models, they all differ in recording quality, color depth and so on, but if you compare them with our vision, you understand how limited they are. Limited by shooting resolution, zoom range, number of recording shades, and much more. For example, there are standards for the number of shades of an image, from black and white to multi-million. Whatever this image may be, reality is viewed much more softly by us and the brain does not have to add the missing pieces of the puzzle to the overall picture. This results in tired eyes and headaches from prolonged contact with the monitor.
Sound. Having a bunch of different parameters, it refers to the vibrations of molecules in different environments. Today it has been studied in all its glory. Music, radio broadcast, cellular- are based, one way or another, on the same vibrations of molecules. Frequency is one of the main characteristics of sound. A person is able to perceive sounds with a frequency of 20 to 20,000 hertz (the number of vibrations per second), but at the same time, he does not feel comfortable if he hears a song from a speaker with a sampling frequency of even 22,050 hertz. This suggests that in reality, human hearing is much more subtle than physics tells us. An audio file recorded in any format, at any frequency, at any bitrate is a limited part of the real sound. It's like looking out of a small window without seeing the rest of the world; how to breathe through a gas mask without smelling; how to touch something through gloves, almost without touching the object...
A computer as a whole consists of various electrical components. Power – The power supply converts electricity into a form the system can understand. In humans, this is oxygen and other chemical elements obtained through gas exchange in the lungs and digestion processes in the digestive system. RAM stores current information, works as long as voltage is applied to it, and has an extremely limited volume relative to physical memory. A person solves current small tasks, which he instantly forgets about; this is stored in memory for a very short period of time, this is temporary (fast) memory. Physical memory on a computer in the form hard drive or flash memory has a considerable amount. At the same time, the use of more ergonomic formats saves space. A person has the same physical memory, only the information is stored in the form of a result chemical reaction and yet more reminiscent of flash memory. After all, if the charge on the flash drive runs out completely, the information on it will be lost, and in the same way, if we don’t feed any information, periodically without remembering it, it is simply erased. The processor on the computer is responsible for mathematics; it constantly calculates. Fits information to him RAM and she also takes the results, like a secretary. People differ in their intelligence quotient (IQ), which can be compared to the speed of the processor on a computer.
Thus, modern computers are far from perfect, but we use their capabilities almost one hundred percent. The human brain is perfection and we hardly use it. A new generation is born and grows in a new information field and develops much faster. Maybe someday we will come to the point where one word will replace a book.
Author of the article - Alexey SinyakinThe age-old question is: when will a computer reach the capabilities of the human brain? Some scientists are already saying that in the near future the intelligence of machines will reach the level of humans.
But this is how you look at it. It turns out that our brain, in its capabilities, is such a powerful computing center that everyone computer systems will not be able to compare with him for a very long time.
Speaking about human intelligence, comparing the speed of decision-making, machines will catch up with our brain very soon. But only this. Everyone knows that the thinking and memory process occupies only a small part of our brain. But the amount of information stored in it, the transmission speed, and other capabilities are incomparable with any machine yet. We will be a much more serious computing center than any other for a long time. And here are the numbers.
Brain or computer - which is more powerful?
Martin Hilbert and Priscila Lopez have been conducting research in the field of information for several years. They calculated that development is proceeding very rapidly. In addition to supercomputers, PCs, laptops, mobile phones, Androids, and iPhones have been added in recent years. They carry, produce and transmit enormous amounts of information. But scientists decided to calculate how much information humanity has today, what is the speed and volume of its transmission, etc. The result was stunning, but the conclusions simply baffled scientists. Especially those who said that the creation of a computer that would be comparable to the human brain in the coming decades and centuries would be possible. It's not just a leap in technology that's needed. In 2007, the performance of all computers in the world was 6.4 x 10^18 actions per second. If a person sat and made calculations on a calculator, it would take 2200 times longer than it took with... moment of the Big Bang. Basically, since the beginning of time.
All the information accumulated by humanity, recorded from manuscripts to Blu-ray disks, stored on all servers and hard drives, is approximately equal to 400 exabytes of information. Humanity can immediately save, using all its power, 295 trillion megabytes in a second. It would seem a monstrous number; if all the information was thrown onto disks, then the column would be up to the orbit of the Moon. And this, after all, is 400,000 kilometers. Every second we are capable of transferring 2 quadrillion megabytes. 
Does the brain really process information faster?
But further findings showed that, alas, we declared too early that we were able to create an analogue of the human brain. The human brain, each neuron impulse of which is equal to one bit of information, is faster by a quarter. That's not all. All the information that humanity is capable of storing takes up less space than the information contained in a person. All the world's processors, combined simultaneously, from a mobile phone to a supercomputer, are capable of producing 6.4 trillion million operations per second. But the human brain is capable of performing more operations per second.
Alas, this is the least our brain is capable of. In terms of speed, volume, and other basic indicators, the human biological body and his brain contain more information and process and transmit it much faster. In general, electronics is still very far from being a supercomputer like a human. And those comparisons that bring the PC ability closer to the mental abilities of a person mean only our consciousness, which occupies a microscopic part in the work of the entire brain.
MAN AND COMPUTER WHAT ARE WE DANGEROUS TO EACH OTHER WHAT IS A COMPUTER DANGEROUS TO US A computer is a high-tech, technically well-thought-out device, but at the same time very dangerous. Sometimes the danger is real, and sometimes it quietly affects your health and psyche.
EFFECTS ON VISUAL Due to the use of computers in Lately Have ophthalmologists begun to identify computer vision syndrome? (Computer vision syndrome) which is characterized by the following complaints: decreased visual acuity, double vision, rapid fatigue when reading, burning in the eyes, a feeling of “sand,” pain in the eye sockets and forehead, redness of the eyeballs. Don't forget - your eyes also need rest and warm-up!!! Warm-up for the muscles of accommodation (sharpening the lens) is as follows: stand in front of a window from which you can see the distance, and alternately focus your gaze on the frame, then on the horizon. Choosing a room The room should be spacious, well ventilated and moderately bright. Bright sunlight creates glare on the monitor, so it is better to provide blinds. It is unacceptable to illuminate only the workspace in a dark room. The table should be positioned so that sunlight from the window and light from the lamp do not fall on the monitor screen.
IMPACT ON POSTURE. Not proper organization workplace can lead to rapid fatigue, curvature of the spine, pinched nerve endings (which will cause severe pain in different places - from the legs to the head) Prevention: proper organization of the workplace and time, gymnastics.
ARTHRITIS. DISEASES OF THE JOINTS Long-term repetitive monotonous movements The most well-known among MS users is carpal tendon syndrome, associated with entering information using a mouse and keyboard. When working with a mouse and keyboard, the most involved are the index and middle fingers, the muscles of the wrist and forearm, which can cause joint disease. It is very useful to play “We wrote, we wrote...”. You can simply squeeze and unclench your wrists, turning them outward in the “lock.” Prevention: proper organization of the workplace and time, gymnastics, distribution of the load on all fingers (ten-finger - blind typing method). Correct landing Gymnastics for arms
LONG-TERM HYPODYNAMIA Hypodynamia is limited motor mobility. Leads to disruption of body functions (musculoskeletal system, blood circulation, breathing, digestion) This problem is not directly related to the computer. Physical inactivity threatens everyone whose work can be called “sedentary.” Prevention: move more, take breaks more often. Every 1-1.5 hours, take a break for 5-10 minutes. During a break, depending on the location of your workplace, you can go outside, climb the stairs to another floor, bend forward several times, clasp your hands on the back of your head and at the same time, pull your head forward with your hands, and, on the contrary, try to lean back with your head. Change your position more often, allow yourself to “stretch” to your heart’s content, do not forget to change the position of your legs under the table, do not be lazy to get up and walk periodically
Nervous disorders Working at a computer is associated with constant tension and irritation, the source of which can be various situations. For example: computer freezes, loss of information, viruses, slow computer operation. Prevention: Try to make sure that when working, the computer gives as few glitches as possible and irritates you. For example: structure information so that it is easy to find, do backups, check for viruses, clean your mouse often so that the naughty cursor doesn’t make you angry, don’t use poor-quality Internet access. Make sure that working at the computer is comfortable and does not cause irritation.
In addition to this influence of the computer on the psyche, a new phenomenon has recently become widespread, called Internet addiction and gaming addiction. This is already a completely tangible and widespread phenomenon, the study of which has shown the following: this addiction is as harmful as alcoholism or drug addiction, and leads to profound personality changes - self-isolation, mental imbalance, pathological forgetfulness and untidiness, indifference to loved ones. A person during virtual travel on the Internet or computer games forgets about time, eats in front of the monitor rather than at the table, and practically does not react to calls to it. The sick person experiences an irresistible desire to stay in hospital for as long as possible. virtual reality, forgetting about everything. Computer games and the Internet, out of a need to unwind and relax, sometimes gradually develop into a psychological (with obvious signs of a drug addiction - shaking hands, darting eyes...) addiction. A gamer is a person suffering from a pathological craving for computer games. Prevention: organize work time, motivated to limit the number of games, develop a sense of self-control. What does irregular communication with a computer lead to: Internet addiction and gaming addiction
Mechanical damage to computer blocks is scratches, dents, cracks. Mechanical damage to the keyboard. The inscriptions on the keys are erased (manicure, rings, creams...), the keys “stick” from a strong blow (especially the spacebar and enter). Mechanical damage to wires. Mechanical damage to the thin protective layer of the screen. It is the height of indecency to touch the surface of the screen with your finger, pointer, pen, pencil... It is not advisable to wipe the screen with a rough cloth. WHAT ARE WE DANGEROUS FOR A COMPUTER Internal mechanical damage that can occur from an impact or a foreign object getting inside. Prevention: proper organization of the workplace; it is strictly forbidden to carry or move computer blocks while they are on. Dust, pollution, moisture. Conductive dust, dirt, and moisture can damage computer components. Contamination of the monitor with a pen, pencil, fingers, damage to the protective surface of the monitor. Prevention: organize workplace, regular maintenance, do not place flowers in close proximity to the computer (above the computer), food, small office supplies. Crumbs, coffee, tea, paper clips... can get into computer blocks and disable them.
