Artificial Intelligence: New Minds for Old

Ted Honderich, professor of philosophy at University College, London, introduces the second of 10 arguments highlighting the turmoil of contemporary ideas which challenge our perception of ourselves and the world we live in. Rapid and extraordinary developments in computer science have given birth to a new discipline — artificial intelligence — and with it have come new philosophical and psychological models of human beings. Margaret Boden, professor of philosophy and psychology at Sussex University, argues that computers will be able to replicate unique human qualities such as intelligence, understanding and consciousness. John Searle, professor of philosophy at the University of California Berkeley, sets out to prove that computers cannot, under any circumstances, have human qualities. "