Organisms and computers

[RozKek]

https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does-n...a-computer

I find this article interesting, I wonder what your stance is on this subject.

Are humans merely advanced computers or are we mutually exclusive?

[Mister Agenda]

I'm mutually exclusive.

[Kingpin]

While some "processes" that brains and computers do could be described as similar, I believe they are exclusive. First, the computer is only possible because of people with brains. We designed and developed them to perform certain tasks and that is all they can do. Look at supercomputers like "Deep Blue", it was designed to analyze and play the "perfect" game of chess. It has no feelings, no memories, no dreams, no personality, etc. In short I agree with the article.

[Alex K]

The same things the author finds so special about the brain are also true for deep neural nets, including the ones running on digital computers. The author seems to work with an annoyingly simplistic notion of what computers are or what the current state of the art of understanding the brain is. Smells like strawmanning. He boasts about all the questions the experts couldn't answer - but were they even good questions? Does ANYONE seriously working in the field after 1980 think that the brain works like a simple information processing algorithm?

[brewer]

We have similarities, computers and higher cognitive functioning, but ultimately different.

People who know more about computers than I will more than likely tell me that I'm incorrect.

[ignoramus]

One day a computer may emulate us at a very superficial degree.
It can never be "human".

Humans kill, rape and torture for lots of crazy reasons.
Humans have a million years of instinct which controls our emotions.

Humans know they are going to die
All these factors ultimately make us NOT like a piece of hardware running some software routines.

It's a little silly comparing the two.

[Alex K]

If those software routines are an algorithm for machine learning, they might do all those things one day.

[abaris]

So why aren't animal brains computers? They function in the same way, largely using the same brain regions for the same purposes.

The question is rigged in humanity's favor right from the start. It once again gives certain groups ample reason for the belief in human exclusivness. Which isn't the case. We function according to millions of years of evolution. The only thing maybe a bit different is our cultural elements. But that's also up for debate, since it depends on the definition of culture.

[ignoramus]

Agree with Alex bearing in mind that even morality can be coded for.
In this hypothetical, will all AI's chose the same option every time? Sch as the trolley dilemma?

But will it be the right thing to do?
Will they ever understand revenge, compassion or the importance of the life of one specific person over another?
Will they understand loyalty? Will they save 10 other AI's or a very old homeless man in the trolley dilemma?

Is our ultimate goal to make them exactly like humans? Or better?

[IATIA]

I disagree with the main premise of the article; "We will never ..."

It seems quite obvious to me that there is some information stored and damage to the brain can disintegrate some memories or pieces of information. I believe the brain to have a 'holographic' distribution of the 'retained' information which would make it impossible to decode until it is accepted as possible and then researched to identify the 'algorithm' necessary to retrieve any information. I believe the storage system to be a 'symbolic' system contrary to a 'literal' system.
IMHO