Recently on The Conversation site there was a discussion titled , "Person or computer: could you pass the Turing Test?" (https://theconversation.edu.au/person-or-computer-could-you-pass-the-turing-test-6769 - 3 May 2012, 6.34am AEST).
A comment on the article by Colin Hales, a Researcher @unimelb.edu.au caught my attention. 'Gronk the cave man did not wait for Laviosier to hand over a theory of
combustion before cooking dinner with fire. He cooked, and eventually we
learned about combustion'. This says something important about our conception of practice and its relation to theory.
Later in his comment, when comparing human intelligence to artificial general intelligence (AGI), Hales used the expression 'artificial fire'. This reminds me of Herbert Simon's book The Sciences of the Artificial. There is, of course, no physical difference between 'natural fire' and 'artificial fire'; both have all the properties explained by Laviosier. However, 'artificial fire', that fire created by human beings by synthesizing elements in their environment, also contains intention. We can imbue all fire with agency - a bush fire started by a lightening strike does seem to have a will of its own. However, the 'artificial fire' of the arsonist carries a purposeful, embedded intention.
This could be a useful analogy for artificial intelligence.
Later in his comment, when comparing human intelligence to artificial general intelligence (AGI), Hales used the expression 'artificial fire'. This reminds me of Herbert Simon's book The Sciences of the Artificial. There is, of course, no physical difference between 'natural fire' and 'artificial fire'; both have all the properties explained by Laviosier. However, 'artificial fire', that fire created by human beings by synthesizing elements in their environment, also contains intention. We can imbue all fire with agency - a bush fire started by a lightening strike does seem to have a will of its own. However, the 'artificial fire' of the arsonist carries a purposeful, embedded intention.
This could be a useful analogy for artificial intelligence.
