Computer Power and Human Reason

from Judgment to Calculation

Computer Power and Human Reason
Computer Power and Human Reason
from Judgment to Calculation
from Judgment to Calculation
By Joseph Weizenbaum By Joseph Weizenbaum
Tanla Bilir
LCC6310-Computation as Expressive Medium
Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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Content
Who is Weizenbaum?
Meet with ELIZA
Effects on society
The book
What Weizenbaum thinks?
Hear from his own voice
Discussion
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Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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Joseph Weizenbaum
1936
1941
1950 1955
1963
1966
1976 2007
1923
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LCC6310-Computation as Expressive Medium
Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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ELIZA
Designed in 1966
Named after Eliza
Doolittle, a character
in George Bernard
Shaw's play
A program that can be
incrementally
improved by its users
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Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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ELIZA
A program operating
within the time-sharing
system at MIT
conversation between
man and computer
acts as a Rogerian
therapist
let's try ELIZA
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How ELIZA works?
The key words in the input text
are analyzed
When certain word is found, the
sentence is transformed
according to a rule associated
with the keyword
if not a content-free remark or,
under certain conditions, an
earlier transformation is
retrieved.
The text so computed or
retrieved is then printed out
Responses are generated by
reassembly rules associated with
selected decomposition rules
The fundamental technical
problems with ELIZA
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ELIZA's effects on society
1. DOCTOR as an automatic
form of psychotherapy?
a) shortage of therapists
b) time saving solution
2. The emotional involvement
with the program
Secretary example
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Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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ELIZA's effects on society contd.
3. A general solution to the
problem of computer
understanding of natural
language?
a) a line dividing human and
machine intelligence
b) computers became the
extensions of human body
c) people must develop a
sense of understanding
regarding how machines
work
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LCC6310-Computation as Expressive Medium
Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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Computer Power and Human Reason:
From Judgment to Calculation
Responses to ELIZA
motivated Weisenbaum to
write his book Computer
Power and Human Reason:
From Judgment to
Calculation
In that book he explains
the limits of computers
Computers will always lack
human qualities such as
compassion and wisdom.
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LCC6310-Computation as Expressive Medium
Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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Further debate from Weizenbaum
1. Unsolved debate:
Computers = humans?
2. Science as an
addictive drug
computers have
limits
computers can,
should and will do
everything
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LCC6310-Computation as Expressive Medium
Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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Further debate from Weizenbaum contd.
3. Scientific theories:
believe it or not?
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Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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Hear from Weizenbaum
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Discussion
Do you think
a computer program may take place of
the real doctors?
people are creating emotional ties with
computers?
whether or not human thought is
entirely computable?
one day machines create their own
intelligence and take over the world?
should we really know the design
principles behind every machine we are
using in our daily life?
people became addictive to the
technology?
question scientific facts?
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LCC6310-Computation as Expressive Medium
Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation
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Thanks!