Interesting Video

[Hamma]

Well with CNN covering Anna Nicole as if it's some kind of news story, they may not be interested in the meaning of life anyway.

[Kikinchikin]

Perhaps a better statement would have been, "Computers will never be able to philosophize."

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Kikinchikin

Perhaps a better statement would have been, "Computers will never be able to philosophize."

Computers will never be able to pilot a Tactical Carrier along a Jump Stream either, but so what?

[Jaged]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

life
1.the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally.
2.the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, esp. metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment.
3.the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual: to risk one's life; a short life and a merry one.
4.a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul: eternal life.
5.the general or universal condition of human existence: Too bad, but life is like that.
6.any specified period of animate existence: a man in middle life.
7.the period of existence, activity, or effectiveness of something inanimate, as a machine, lease, or play: The life of the car may be ten years.
8.a living being: Several lives were lost.
9.living things collectively: the hope of discovering life on other planets; insect life.
10.a particular aspect of existence: He enjoys an active physical life.
11.the course of existence or sum of experiences and actions that constitute a person's existence: His business has been his entire life.
12.a biography: a newly published life of Willa Cather.
13.animation; liveliness; spirit: a speech full of life.
14.resilience; elasticity.
15.the force that makes or keeps something alive; the vivifying or quickening principle: The life of the treaty has been an increase of mutual understanding and respect.
16.a mode or manner of existence, as in the world of affairs or society: So far her business life has not overlapped her social life.
17.the period or extent of authority, popularity, approval, etc.: the life of the committee; the life of a bestseller.
18.a prison sentence covering the remaining portion of the offender's animate existence: The judge gave him life.
19.anything or anyone considered to be as precious as life: She was his life.
20.a person or thing that enlivens: the life of the party.
21.effervescence or sparkle, as of wines.
22.pungency or strong, sharp flavor, as of substances when fresh or in good condition.
23.nature or any of the forms of nature as the model or subject of a work of art: drawn from life.
24.Baseball. another opportunity given to a batter to bat because of a misplay by a fielder.
25.(in English pool) one of a limited number of shots allowed a player: Each pool player has three lives at the beginning of the game. ***8211;adjective
26.for or lasting a lifetime; lifelong: a life membership in a club; life imprisonment.
27.of or pertaining to animate existence: the life force; life functions.
28.working from nature or using a living model: a life drawing; a life class. ***8212;Idioms
29.as large as life, actually; indeed: There he stood, as large as life. Also, as big as life.
30.come to life, a.to recover consciousness. b.to become animated and vigorous: The evening passed, but somehow the party never came to life. c.to appear lifelike: The characters of the novel came to life on the screen.
31.for dear life, with desperate effort, energy, or speed: We ran for dear life, with the dogs at our heels. Also, for one's life.
32.for the life of one, as hard as one tries; even with the utmost effort: He can't understand it for the life of him.
33.get a life, to improve the quality of one's social and professional life: often used in the imperative to express impatience with someone's behavior.
34.not on your life, Informal. absolutely not; under no circumstances; by no means: Will I stand for such a thing? Not on your life!
35.take one's life in one's hands, to risk death knowingly: We were warned that we were taking our lives in our hands by going through that swampy area.
36.
to the life, in perfect imitation; exactly: The portrait characterized him to the life.

Ahh but where did you get that answer from? Google? Yeah I thought so.

You do realize you just proved that a computer can in fact answer that question.

[Baneblade]

www.dictionary.com actually

[Jaged]

But still:
Computer 1
Human 0

[Baneblade]

Isn't that my point?

[Hamma]

[Jaged]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Isn't that my point?

Oh, I thought you were quoting my post when you posted your original definition to prove that a human could in fact answer it.

[Rbstr]

Originally Posted by Jaged

But still:
Computer 1
Human 0

A computer didn't answer shit, it found where the answer was located.

A person wrote the definition

Jaged: 0
People that have brains: at least 50

[Kikinchikin]

I'm not trying to downplay the capability and merits of computers, rather highlight the limits of them and the abilities of humans that computers lack.

[Jaged]

Originally Posted by Rbstr

A computer didn't answer shit, it found where the answer was located.

A person wrote the definition

Jaged: 0
People that have brains: at least 50

Your missing the point. The computer did know the answer. Yes, a human wrote it, but now the computer knows it. At a point, the difference is hardly relevant.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Rbstr

A computer didn't answer shit, it found where the answer was located.

A person wrote the definition

Jaged: 0
People that have brains: at least 50

Isn't that what most humans do as well?

[Rbstr]

A human being can figure out the meaning of a word out of context. You use the word "life" in a sentence and I know what it means, it defines a specific concept.

By your logic a dictionary "knows" the definition. But it doesn't. To a computer "life" is only a series of characters that point to a specific responce.

There's an though experiment called the "Chinese Room" that shows this

The Chinese Room argument is a thought experiment designed by John Searle (1980 [1]) as a counterargument to claims made by strong artificial intelligence (AI, also functionalism).

Searle laid out the Chinese Room argument in his paper "Minds, brains and programs," published in 1980. Ever since, it has been a mainstay of the debate over the possibility of what Searle called strong artificial intelligence. Supporters of strong artificial intelligence believe that an appropriately programmed computer isn't simply a simulation or model of a mind; it actually counts as a mind. That is, it understands, has cognitive states, and can think. Searle's argument against (or more precisely, thought experiment intended to undermine) this position, the Chinese Room argument, goes as follows:

Suppose that, many years from now, we have constructed a computer that behaves as if it understands Chinese. In other words, the computer takes Chinese characters as input and, following a set of rules (as all computers can be described as doing), correlates them with other Chinese characters, which it presents as output. Suppose that this computer performs this task so convincingly that it easily passes the Turing test. In other words, it convinces a human Chinese speaker that the program is itself a human Chinese speaker. All the questions the human asks are responded to appropriately, such that the Chinese speaker is convinced that he or she is talking to another Chinese-speaking human. The conclusion proponents of strong AI would like to draw is that the computer understands Chinese, just as the person does.

Now, Searle asks us to suppose that he is sitting inside the computer. In other words, he is in a small room in which he receives Chinese characters, consults a rule book, and returns the Chinese characters that the rules dictate. Searle notes that he doesn't, of course, understand a word of Chinese. Furthermore, he argues that his lack of understanding goes to show that computers don't understand Chinese either, because they are in the same situation as he is. They are mindless manipulators of symbols, just as he is ***8212; and they don't understand what they're 'saying', just as he doesn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room

A computer that can simply define a word is less capable of "knowing" than the speakign computer described.

[Peacemaker]

Robs arguement is pretty good.

Just remember, a computer no matter how good its AI is will need imput to do something. It cant ask its self a question that has nothing that starts a thinking process. For example a Computer could take audio imput and ask its self what words it just heard, then ask its self what these words mean, and how to respond. A computer however could not how ever respond correctly if sarcasm was used. A computer couldnt ask its self what would it respond if someone asked it a question that has not been asked yet. It needs the imput first. A human however can ask its self "What if she says no?"