I, Robot

Marvin Minsky, an artificial intelligence researcher, believes that machines will surpass the human brain in the realm of consciousness. According to Minsky, “Consciousness is being aware of what is happening in the world and in one’s mind” (Davidson 120). The area of consciousness in which he feels artificial intelligence will truly excel is memory, or record keeping. Through the use of a program, the machine would be able to maintain a record of its internal states (Davidson 120) which researchers could then go back through and examine. In other words, these machines would be able to keep a perfect record of all of their thoughts and experiences. A feat that humans, at least those without a photographic memory, are incapable of duplicating.

While Minsky certainly believes that the memories of computers will be superior to those of a person’s, he does not associate this hyper-consciousness with higher intelligence. He addresses this idea directly when he states, “’Now some people will jump up and be angry and say you mean machines are smarter. No, I’m saying it would be easy to be extremely conscious- but that doesn’t mean you would know what do with it’” (Davidson 120). Therefore, what Minsky is stating is that he does not view machines as intellectually superior to man because while they will be more conscious than humans they are unable to make use of it. Without the ability to apply their heightened consciousness, machines fall short of mankind as we are able to apply our knowledge at our own discretion.

After reading his arguments, I find myself agreeing with Minsky’s ideas. As a Speech and Hearing major, I have had several classes that focus strongly upon memory as it plays such a relevant role in speech. One lesson that stands out with particular clarity in my mind asserts that while humans certainly do have strong long-term memories they are often very inaccurate. In fact, particularly strong memories that are tied to traumatic and unexpected events, called Flashbulb Memories, have been studied over time and illustrate just how drastically our memories can change. The musical Gigi provides a perfect example of the fallibility of human memory with the song “I Remember it Well.” The song is a duet between a man and a woman who are reminiscing about a date they went on but recall totally differently, “He: We met at nine. She: It was eight. He: I was on time. She: No, you were late. He: Ah, yes! I remember it well.” This humorous take on the unreliability the human memory proves just how incongruous they can be. Thus, Minsky certainly speaks the truth when he claims that the record keeping capabilities of technology have the potential to surpass those of a person.