An Masterful Summation
A reader with the angelic yet fiery name of Michael Brazier comments:
The technical term for this distinction in Aristotelian philosophy is immanent causation. This appears when a being acts of itself and for itself: the action originates with the being and is aimed at fulfilling the being’s nature and essence. So a human zygote assembled by an engineer from specific genetic sequences to produce specific traits in the eventual adult would be “designed” in the ordinary sense, but once he began to grow he would show immanent causation and thus not be a tool. And a person who loses important mental functions to brain damage doesn’t thereby become a tool; he still has some immanent causation as long as he’s still alive. He’s just a human who has lost his faculties.
The point is, I think, that if “artificial intelligence” means an intelligent being that isn’t based on organic chemistry, it’s logically conceivable, but such beings would have to be raised and educated much as humans are. If it means an intelligent artifact, a thing that’s programmed to think and be free, it’s a contradiction in terms.
In two paragraphs, Mr. Brazier explains what took me ten columns not to explain so clearly.
I lay my hand over my mouth.
And so we bid a fond farewell to the topic of whether an artificial intelligence, can actually be intelligent, that is, self-determining, while being artificial, that is, not self-determining.
For the record, I did ask a Chinese Room the answer to the question of artificial intelligence, and received the following reply:
| 為無為 | Act without action |
| 事無事 | Manage without meddling |
| 味無味 | Taste without tasting |
| 大小多少 | Great, small, many, few |
| 報怨以德 | Respond to hatred with virtue |
| 圖難於其易 | Plan difficult tasks through the simplest tasks |
| 是以聖人終不為大 | Therefore, sages never attempt great deeds all through life |
| 故能成其大 | Thus they can achieve greatness |
| 夫輕諾必寡信 | One who makes promises lightly must deserve little trust |
| 多易必多難 | One who sees many easy tasks must encounter much difficulty |
| 是以聖人猶難之 | Therefore, sages regard things as difficult |
| 故終無難矣 | So they never encounter difficulties all through life |
The machine then reported that I had gotten a “C” on my Turing Test, and told me to study more. A sad turn!
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
