Jesse Hobbs (1995) Creating Computer Persons:
. Psycoloquy: 6(14) Robot Consciousness (9)
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Psycoloquy 6(14): Creating Computer Persons:
CREATING COMPUTER PERSONS:
MORE LIKELY IRRATIONAL THAN IMPOSSIBLE
Book Review of Bringsjord on Robot-Consciousness
Jesse Hobbs
Dept. of Philosophy & Religion
University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
PRHOBBS@VM.CC.OLEMISS.EDU
Abstract
Selmer Bringsjord's book, What Robots Can and Can't Be
(1992, 1994), aims to improve incrementally on existing literature
on the possibility of computer persons by formalizing arguments
that are often bandied about loosely, and by offering new thought
experiments to remedy defects in previous ones. It succeeds in this
limited aim, but I doubt that these limited improvements are worth
fighting for. I argue that massively counterfactual thought
experiments are unreliable sources of intuitions, and problems with
Searle's Chinese Room and the free will argument slip through
cracks in the formalization. I further doubt that the person
building project which lies at the heart of Bringsjord's discussion
merits taking seriously, since it appears highly irrational.
Keywords
behaviorism, Chinese Room Argument, cognition,
consciousness, finite automata, free will, functionalism,
introspection, mind, story generation, Turing machines, Turing
Test.
References
- Bringsjord, S. (1992). What Robots Can and Can't Be. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
- Bringsjord, S. (1994). Precis of: What Robots Can and Can't Be. PSYCOLOQUY 5(59) robot-consciousness.1.bringsjord.
- Pollock, J. (1989). How to Build a Person: A Prolegomenon. Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Searle, J. (1992). The Rediscovery of the Mind. Cambridge: MIT Press.