Intelligence

The human mind is essentially quantum computer, one theory of consciousness has been explained by the quantum states of the atoms in the brain self-realizing a collective entity. Right now we have supercomputers that rival or exceed the processing power of the human mind, but the only problem is size. Once we are able to miniaturize supercomputers from the size of entire buildings to the size of an orange, or even better yet, making a true quantum computer - allowing each electron to store one bit of information, then we will have no distinguishable difference between computers and humans - the only difference is that computers use silicon gates to register on/off states, whereas humans use neurons. Thus, the difference in materials is superficial.

Perhaps calling computers “machines” is a flawed definition, we shall use the term “intelligent being” to better suit our needs. It is proposed, then, whether such artificially intelligent beings could ever understand abstracts and perhaps, even be programmed to understand consciousness (the notion of I). Recent developments in object-oriented programming where we can create classes of objects and through recursive inheritance and bulky amounts of logic statements (if / then, equals, not equals), we can get computers to understand not only the decisions they make, but also situations that exhibit ideals, such as freedom, justice, and kindness.

We are not teaching the computer to make decisions. We are teaching the computer to make its own decisions, and understand them. Intelligent beings cannot follow a pre-planned decision tree, written at the time of creation, and cannot be complete at compile-time. I am speaking of a program that modifies itself dynamically during run-time. A program that changes and evolves by itself after the initial spark of life is given. Two identical twins, with the same nurturing environment, will grow up to be two very different personas. Two computers that can simulate free will, with the exact same coding and program and environment will still have vastly different conclusions about the world as well as experiences.

At this point, humans and intelligent computers enter the same principle. Whereas traditional computers will never be able to understand free will or ever make real decisions, by altering our understanding of what machines are capable of, somewhere along the lines, the distinctions between human and machine blur. Again, this machine is no longer a machine; it has become something far greater, namely an intelligent sentience.