The Edge question for 2015 is “What do you think about machines that think?”
The first two responses I read were from Sean Carroll and Nick Bostrom. I have been a long time followier of Sean Carroll blog’s Preposterous Universe and have also recently read Bostrom’s book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies.
Carroll took the opportunity to revisit yet again his long running atheist argument that we can explain everything with physical law by erasing the distinction between us and machines. His response entitled “We Are All Machines That Think” really misses the point of the question, I think.
Bostrom, on the other hand, in his response “A Difficult Topic” immediately begins discussing intelligence which may or may not be the same as thinking. I had planned to write a separate post on Bostrom’s book but will touch on my issues with that book here.
Not surprising, most open-ended questions with imprecise definitions of terms generate answers using different definitions. The terms in this question with imprecise definitions are “machines” and “thinking”. I will be curious to see if other responders even care to define the terms as they provide their answers. I will explore my thoughts on those terms and what they mean to the answer of the Edge question.
Broad Speculations 