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Preamble & Introduction to the Problem

I have chosen to write about the topic of Artificial Intelligence as I consider it to be one of the very frontiers of current scientific research and philosophical reasoning, not to mention a great catalyst for natural human imagination and curiosity. The compulsion to create seems to be a basic human instinct, and if not the creation of a new life form were to be considered the very pinnacle of human ingenuity then what would?[1]  The specific nature of the assignment issued to me is stated as follows:

Conduct an investigation into the problem of Artificial Intelligence.

Your investigation must include:

·        a short account of the problem with basis in John Searle's Chinese Room

·        a short presentation of involved fictional literature of your own choice.

·        a discussion and analysis of how the fictional works you have chosen to involve in your investigation contribute to an illustration of the problem of Artificial Intelligence.

You must include supplementing literature to a relevant extent.

As all practical feasibility of actually constructing a thinking (and/or conscious) machine would necessitate a deep expertise in some sort of engineering - be it digital or biological - which I do not possess, this investigation will solely deal with the philosophically theoretical and logically conceptual rather than the technologically practical and mathematically feasible.

In the first part of the project I will be dealing with what constitutes – or what could constitute – Artificial Intelligence. Since Alan Turing and his Imitation Game (later dubbed The Turing Test)[2] seems to be the foundation on which all subsequent discussion is based, I will introduce this briefly before moving on to Searle, his peers, and contestants. Thereafter both viewpoints will serve as the backdrop for later considerations. Subsequently I shall discuss the main objection to The Chinese Room called The Systems Reply[3] as purported by Daniel C. Dennett and Douglas R. Hofstadter and elaborate on their viewpoint with a basis in their book “The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul” and Hofstadter’s book “Gödel, Escher, Bach.”[4]  As the boundary between philosophical theory and fiction thereby has been breached I shall present the two novels “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” (1968) by Philip K. Dick and “Heaven” (2005) by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen and illustrate how they can be said to support the views of Searle and Dennett/Hofstadter respectively.

Lastly I shall dedicate a section to my own reflections on the issue, and argue for the case that while these various theses and gedankenexperiments may deepen our understanding and provide us with the tools necessary to consider the problem of Artificial Intelligence in a meaningful way, they ultimately fail in their endeavour of providing us with a definite answer and solution to the problem at hand.