Machine and Animal Minds

Machine and Animal Minds Philosophy Unit 2

I. Descartes on animals and automata Descartes Argument 1. People are fundamentally different from animals because 2. They can place [their] thoughts on record for the benefit of others through speech (1 R) 3. Animals are incapable of speech because they lack the ability to reason. Their movements and noises result from The disposition of their organs, just as a clock [moves because of its]... wheels and weights (2R). 4. Thus animals are simply sophisticated machines that act on their passions (instincts, programming)

5. People act for two reasons: Like animals, people have actions that are motivated by purely mechanical or corporeal causes (4L). Unlike animals, people also act as a result of an incorporeal mind, the soul (4L) Speech is the only certain sign of thought (and thus a mind and a soul) hidden in the body (4R)

6. Thus animals act out of mechanical necessity while people can act as a result of reason - reason is thus the source of our free will.... Reason is the universal instrument which can serve for all contingencies (1R). 7. Our ability to reason is evidence of our soul. 8. The rational soul... could not in any way be derived from the power of matter... but must be expressly created. (2R) 9. To say that persons are the same as animals is thus to deny what separates us from animals (the soul), which is to deny the cause of our soul - God. (2R)

Stated more simply 1. People have language 2. Language is evidence of reason 3. Reason allows us free will 4. Reason and its consequent free will art evidence of the non-material soul 5. The non material soul must be created Therefore: God exists and people are the special creation of God

II. Artificial Intelligence

A. Alan Turing

B. The Historical context: Bletchley park, Alan Turing and the effort to crack the enigma code

The Enigma Machine Machines used by the German command to encrypt military radio transmissions (especially to coordinate the actions of their u- boat fleet) The machines was capable of generating between 10-19th power and 10-22nd power different possible states

The Enigma Machine Machines used by the German command to encrypt military radio transmissions (especially to coordinate the actions of their u- boat fleet) The machines was capable of generating between 10-19th power and 10-22nd power different possible states Turing developed the Bombe in 1939

The Colossus

B. Turing s Paper Computing, Machinery and Intelligence

Turing s Argument Whether machines can think is the wrong question The Key for Turing is whether or not machines can behave in the same way as things with minds Like Descartes, Turing sees language as the key feature of things with minds. Thinking things use language. Therefore, the better question is, can machines use language in a way that makes them indistinguishable from humans in conversation Turing argued that machines would be able to do this by the year 2000.

Objections to AI discussed in Turing s article The theological objection - Essentially Descartes argument. Language is the function of reason which arises from the soul which is created by God. machines are not created by God, thus they have no soul. Turing s response - Turing is rather dismissive (he was an atheist), but he maintains that this approach overly limits God

Objections to AI discussed in Turing s article The Heads in the Sand objection or the argument from Human Ego - machine minds are to horrible to consider - they would reduce the position of humanity in the universe - therefore they must be impossible

Objections to AI discussed in Turing s article The Argument from Consciousness - Machines cannot think because they have no subjective experience. Turing s response - How do we know they can t feel? If we accept this argument we must assume that other people lack consciousness as well.

Objections to AI discussed in Turing s article Arguments from various disabilities - Machines can t think because they can t

Objections to AI discussed in Turing s article Lady Lovelace s objection - Machines can t surprise us or do anything new Turing rejects this on the basis that complex systems will often result in things we have not foreseen

Objections to AI discussed in Turing s article The argument from informality of behavior - Machines follow rules and it is impossible to write rules that would cover all possible situations. The talk bot s limitations in conversation are a good example of this Turing rejects this, again, on the basis that complex systems will often result in things we have not foreseen

IV. Animal Minds

A. Peter Carruthers argument against animal consciousness Background Carruthers argument

Thesis - The nature of animal minds is such that we have no ethical obligations to them 1. If pain causes suffering, then it is an ethical duty to help x avoid pain 2. Pain does not cause x to suffer Therefore: We have no ethical duty to help x avoid pain

Key Concepts Non-Conscious experience - an experience that feels like nothing Conscious experience - an experience that feels like something

Higher Order Thought Model of Consciousness (People) What s happening here: 1.Belief generated about the horse 2.This belief is made available to non conscious motor control processes 3. (Maybe) A belief arises that that (1) is taking place (a thought about 1) What makes the experience a conscious experience is 3. Without it, the experience (1) is non conscious.

Higher Order Thought model of Consciousness (Animals) What s happening here: 1.Belief generated about the man 2.This belief is made available to non conscious motor control processes 3.Does a belief arise that that (1) is taking place (a thought about 1)? NAY! 4. Thus the horse has experience, but it is non conscious. It is not felt. If the horse is hurt, THIS PAIN WILL NOT BE EXPERIENCED.

Therefore Animal suffering is not an appropriate object of ethical concern, and in fact, this concern may be unethical in and of itself as it might cause resources to be directed away from efforts to ease the suffering of conscious animals (i.e. - us).

Weaknesses The non conscious experience of animals is assumed (taken as a given) and not proven (Carruthers doesn t even make a serious effort to construct such an argument) He asserts human babies experiences are non conscious, but he says their pain matters because it will shape their later, conscious selves. By this reasoning, the suffering of a human baby with a terminal illness would not be a proper object of moral concern. Carruthers concedes that human history is full of efforts to dehumanize so as to justify treating people and things with a reduced ethical standard

B. Peter Singer s argument for the ethical treatment of animals Biography

Argument 1. Equal consideration of interests - Singer argues that the basic moral principle is that of equal consideration of interests. If something has an interest, that interest must be taken into consideration when making ethical decisions What is an interest? Creatures have interests if they have a capacity for suffering or enjoyment 2. Why equal consideration of interests? Why not intelligence or rationality as the standard for ethical consideration? Singer argues that any other standard is arbitrary He draws a parallel to the idea of racism. Non whites were treated unequally based on skin color. This now seems wrong to us precisely because skin color is an arbitrary distinction - you have rights if you are white but not if you are black. Singer argues that to say a being s suffering doesn t matter because it is not as intelligent as we are or because it is not rational is just as arbitrary.

Argument 3. He calls making such arbitrary distinctions speciesism (12-13) and says it is comparable to racism. 4.This requires a radical rethinking of how we treat animals (17)