Can Computers Think?

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Over several years, the improvement in technology has increased significantly..

Many people constantly ask what is the new and best technology but who is the one to make the final decision. Consumers are demanding for more but wanting less at the same time. “Companies are downsizing because technology now does a job that a person once did”(Oren, 2004). But is it appropriate to say that a human can be replaced by a computer? I believe that not all humans will be replaced by a computer, but I do think that a computer will be able to do many of the same things that a human can already do. John R. Searle and Alan Turing are two philosophers that I will be relating to in order to examine the likelihood of a computer being able to “think” or not “think” and I will look into how a computer and a human have more in common than what “humans” actually think. Also, with the help of the IBM computer, Watson, I will explain why I think that computers will be able to “think”.

Many people have a direct response to this question which is, what is the meaning of thinking? So I feel that it is appropriate to give my interpretation of what thinking is. To me, it means that something will be able to generate a thought, make a reasoning of something and analyze a specific scenario. I understand that not all computers are capable yet, but in time I believe it is more than possible to have a computer to be able to do those things. An example of this improvement is the IBM computer, Watson. Watson was previewed on Jeopardy, showing viewers what this computer is capable of. This computer that generates answers with every question it is asked, Watson would make his conclusion which could be classified that it is thinking. Watson played against human...

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