Such
hollow speculations are not only limited to the field of cognitive
science rather these are prevalent in every field of knowledge. This
is a widespread phenomena. In every domain of life the victory of
machines over mankind, and the triumph of artificial consciousness
over man is being fancied. Why? Nature
is annotated in science. Only a modest part of the the reality is
reflected in the images of stars or the earth that we perceive
through our eyes. The Space and Earth have been continually observed
and interpreted over the past 4000 years by millions of humans. From
Plato to Kepler in the ancient times to Stephen hawking and other
contemporary scientists of today, all have endeavored to provide
a better picture of the earth, stars and the universe at large. Human
knowledge grows from the perceptional level to conceptual
knowledge, a requisite amount of cognition and perception essentially
lead to a conceptual accumulation of knowledge. During this process
of development of knowledge a lot of human perceptions turn out to be
in-accurate and it is through this process of trial and error the
human mind learns the intricacies of various subjects and enriches
art, literature,natural science etc. The entire human history is the
history of mans collective behaviour and toil. The history of natural
science is connected to both the human productive forces and
production relations. This has also been perpetually developing,
however there are times when for a long period science remains
comparatively stagnant in its growth. The economy of a society lays
down the basis for the existence of all forms of ideologies. The
scientists too cannot remain immune of these ideologies which
influence how they analyze knowledge. "Before
man could function as a physicist he had to live as a man ,ans not as
an abstract man ,but as a real man in a certain society. If we take
modern physics,beginning with Galileo and Bacon, then the physicist
was a man who had to live as a member of bourgeois society before he
could function as a physicist"(Christopher Caudwell). Due to
wrong or biased judgment facts are not analyzed in the right
scientific manner for a long time. After a prolonged fierce
struggle of rebuttals and ambushes does the Natural science take the
direction of right approach. This direction is that of Dialectics.
Nowadays bourgeois science instead of having a dialectical
approach takes the recourse of accidental flukes, and this is the
reason of its sluggish and tardy growth. This decadence is a
characteristic of the bourgeois society. This ephemeralness is
associated with every field just a like a spider's web.
There
is a crisis in every field of knowledge and science .In reality the
entire tenet of artificial intelligence is one of the outcomes of
the crookedness of the bourgeois society and its economic
basis. the present write up is a critique of this hypothesis and its
main arguments. first and foremost we will impinge on its
political prejudices and conclusions. Its dissection from there on
will become rather effortless. The perplexed nature of today's
experiments and bourgeois scientists will also shed light on the
retrogressive bourgeois society. Many physicists and philosophers
like Roger Penrose, Naom Chomsky, Hurbert Dreyfus have also
castigated artificial intelligence but most of them either analyze
the technical aspects of artificial intelligence (mainly on the basis
of Godel's incompleteness theorems which state that knowledge is
relative) or they proceed with a pure idealist perspective. Without
the compass of Marxist methodology these scientific speculations and
the experiments being done to quantify them are wandering in the haze
of uncertainty and chance.
The Politics surrounding artificial intelligence
The
rise of capitalism took place in an era when for the first time heavy
machinery was being employed for the large scale production of goods.
Steam engine,printing,computer,aeroplanes are the inventions of
this era and this was also the era when the forces of labour and
Capital kept colliding with one another. On one hand mechanization
enhanced the level of productivity of labour and on the other it sent
a large population out of work ,unemployed who were forcibly
displaced from their homes and land. By the use of machines the
capitalist is able to improve and enhance the productivity of labour
and procure more produce in a shorter period of time than without the
machines. The capitalist is then able to extract surplus value out of
the labour .Through mechanization the capitalists continually try to
decrease the cost of production and augment their profits. Due to
competition in the market this tendency of exploiting the labour
transforms into a mindless lust because only those capitalists can
survive in the market who out smart and out run others in the battle
of prices,i.e. who are able to curtail the prices. And only those
capitalists can keep the prices low who keep their cost of production
to a minimum which is possible by the use of machines and automation
to enhance the productivity of labour eventually laying off the
laborers that is reducing man power and increasing machine power.
This greed transforms into insanity, and gives birth to many
hypotheses in the bourgeois world. it reaches to a fantasy where
robots replace the laborers in a factory. This argument is
what it is, a mere fantasy and the subsequent part of the article
will demolish it into bits but for the moment we shall proceed with
it. The artist, politician,economist, or scientist in a Bourgeois
society imagines a machinery that will consistently increase the
profits and will relieve the humans of the mental and corporal work
involved in production. This hypothesis is called "Technological
unemployment" in economics, about which different economists
have a different view. Going by this argument what will happen is
that instead of humans ,robots will work in factories. A large
proportion of the population will be thrown out of work and a handful
of capitalists will exploit Earth's wealth. or else after some time
better machines will replace the capitalists and dominate the world.
What an absurd Thought! But its just an imagination. First of all its
a fantasy, a rather ridiculous one though and even if this fantasy is
believed to be true than the unemployed masses will rebel against
this system. This fantasy presents machines in form of an unbeatable
force which the humans cant fight against. But it always overlooks
the fact that David defeated Goliath with a staff and sling. One can
get a clear glimpse of the germs of this hypothesis in
novels,poems,films,songs and other forms of superstructures
that the bourgeois society advocate. Novels like Issac Asimov's Robot
Series and films like I- Robot ,Matrix, A.I. etc are concrete
manifestations of the economic thirst that fuels this fantasy. The
economic basis of every system builds favorable superstructure
compatible with it, that prove to be useful in its growth and
progress. Since ancient time magic and witchcraft served the purpose
of keeping the man's consciousness glued to the economic base. The
very purpose of Artificial intelligence is also the same. This
scientific hypothesis supports the economic base of the capitalist
society and raises a doubting eye on labour ,negates the peoples
opposition and vulgarizes its invincible glory. Capitalism
pitches humans against their own creation,this fantasy pitches humans
against machines and makes the creation look unconquerable. Its an
irony that on one hand this system keeps millions of people
unemployed,hungry, and renders their able bodies and minds inactive
and on the other hand invests money in a technology that will build
"conscious possessing robots" that can substitute humans.
What does common sense say?what does a sane argument say? Is is not a
simple but disturbing logic that 5.8 million tonnes of grain rots and
turns foul in warehouses in a country where every day 9,000 children
die due to malnutrition and hunger. Is it not idiocy?? A super
computer is not required to solve this question that is capable of
thinking of 2000 moves per second. Since the second world war this
has been present just as a hypothesis. Now we shall proceed
and analyze the argument that causes the generalization of
this human creation to a degree that this abstract creation comes to
life.
The
Philosophy of artificial intelligence
The
concept of artificial intelligence came into being after the Second
world war. Governments of many Capitalist nations invested money in
this field. The main basis of artificial intelligence is Turing
Computational Principle .The human nervous system has been
endeavored to be studied with a very inferior system. In 1950 Turing
in his paper named
"Computing Machinery and intelligence" laid the basis of
artificial intelligence. The famous Turing test, the test of a
machines intelligence
was presented in this paper. During the 1950's scientists like John
Mc-Carthy, Marvin Minsky, Neville, Simon etc. did extensive work in
this field. This was the same period during which a search for a
machine that could translate Russian articles was on in
America so that it can access all possible information
about Sputnik. But the search collapsed soon. Artificial intelligence
did not meet the expectations and in 1973 on the recommendation of
Lighthill report the research on artificial intelligence was banned
everywhere in England except for three universities(university of
Edinburgh, Sussex and Essex). Latter in 1982 a lot of investment was
done into the research on artificial intelligence that again
dissolved in 1988. But in the following years the investment again
started to be pumped into the research in this field which lead to
the invention of many computers that were successful in performing
the tasks assigned by humans. The concept of artificial intelligence
was extensively exploited in research estimation, surgical
operations,logistics,computer games,play station,data mining,space
ships, weaponry, Google search engine and other search
engines. But inspite a research of 70 years the hypothesis of a
conscious machine has not yet come to life and neither it ever will,
no matter how much hue and cry Peter Norvig creates about it. This
is not baseless statement. The reasons backing this view against a
conscious machine are present on scientific and philosophical level.
Philosophical view is a generalization of the scientific view. After
all what is artificial intelligence? Its just a computer program in
reality. A computer program on the basis of its conditional operators
can generate a somewhat fair prognosis about the various possible
events. Even the most advanced computers can only forecast a handful
of results about the possible circumstances through its mathematical
operators. These programs can only work on the basis of the given
data, facts and calculations and perform new calculations only on the
basis of the provided information. Humans have a power that no
computer program can have, that is the power of imagination and
emotions. Imagination,emotion,rational logic and facts all
these together form the basis of a majority of decisions. Therefore
no advanced program of artificial intelligence can analyze all the
possible circumstances holistically. In this way any unimagined,
uncalculated but possibly definite situation can cause the computer
program to be in a dysfunctional state or in computer terminology it
can cause a 'system error'. Will these computers, the software that
run them and their algorithms ever be able to think like a human
brain? These computers just organize data based on mathematical
parameters set by humans in chips made up of silicon and germanium,
and extract calculations from them; in the words of Christopher
Caudwell "a machine is filled with the label of operatability" i.e.
its just a mere reflection of the human methodology of collection of
data and its examination. Inspite of increasing the number of silicon
and germanium chips in it a computer is capable of doing just this.
It cannot think in a dialectical manner like humans. Be it the Deep
blue that defeated Kasparov or Norvig's Google search engine! If
the number of squares is increased on the chessboard or the movement
of the knight is altered then the computer will loose. In an other
board game called "Go" even beginners beat the artificial
intelligence. Our Universe is not bound by the laws of these games,
matter is perpetually evolving and at every level matter obeys
different laws. The only thing that even the most modern and highly
advanced computer can perform is to execute the task assigned by
humans with maximum accuracy and precision. It is indeed only a
reflection of human conscious. Man and the machine cannot be viewed
in isolation from one another, machines are a part of mans inorganic
world. Computer is a tool of performing mental labour,just like a
hammer is a tool for making the physical toil easy. But many
scientists profess that they are creating a new consciousness in the
form of artificial intelligence and at every step they compare these
machines with either animals or humans. Peter Norvig says in his book
“Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach” that when flight of bird can be simulated by aeroplanes
than why not conciousness of human brain?
This is idealism. You cannot do whatever you wish. Going by this
token one would say lets create a new Earth, why not create a new
universe! Anyways lets venture out of fairyland. Citing
Hobbes Norvig puts forth the argument that the human brain is just
like a calculator in which consciousness enters through mathematical
formulas. What is consciousness then? What is color, fragrance,
solid, wet, screech etc. Are these mathematical formulas that can be
programmed in computer? Human consciousness has been evolving since
the last 4000 years, the history of its evolution is history of
humanity. It is history of man's subjective and objective world. In
reality man can not be isolated into subjective and objective. As
Feurbach had said that human is both subject-object. Man's spiritual
and material world are unified. It is the dividing line that
separates dialectical materialist from a mechanical materialist.
Neither machine can understand dialectics nor the mechanical
materialist. And this is the very reason why the hypothesis of
artificial intelligence is anti-human. It vulgarizes the human
essence. It talks about recreating the human essence through a
machine. But as Marx said- “The human essence is no abstraction
inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble
of social relations.” This vulgar concept goes against Marxist
epistemology. It is not a very difficult task to understand that
knowledge is a scientific object that a machine can not comprehend.
It can simply imitate. A critical attitude and a dialectical approach
is a prerequisite for understanding knowledge. But according the
hypothesis of artificial intelligence these machines will not only be
better abled to comprehend knowledge but also move a step ahead. It
is all gibberish. This hypothesis searches for knowledge in the
likes of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Hegel, Michelangelo, Einstein
and not in collective social experience. It covers the history of
human struggle, the process of generation of knowledge through
experience and development with a veil of condescension. This idea
advocates that elite intellectuals are required to lead the laborious
masses and now the artificial intelligence will do this job of
leading them. The idea of artificial intelligence is willing to serve
the bourgeois state and in reality the softwares developed through
artificial intelligence are being employed in surveillance. The
hypothesis such as Artificial intelligence reveal the limitations of
bourgeois science and its hollowness. What are the computers
that developed from the experiments of artificial intelligence in
reality? And how will they come handy and into use? Without any doubt
,these computers will increase human productivity, and will lead to
the formation of better machines but the detail that needs to be paid
attention to,is that in capitalism science is the slave of capital
and it will be a servant to the process of making profits. A
disgusting example of this idea is a robot based on the concept of
artificial intelligence called 'Roxy' whose purpose of being invented
is to quench mans sexual thirst. The crisis of capitalism is present
on the level of science as well, inspite of this science and
technology have been progressing even if at a slow pace. In this
scenario science is used in a retarded and deformed way. Science is
then used to build warfare weaponry, robots like Roxy, and anti aging
medicines. The word artificial intelligence is a misnomer and it
doesn't reflects the basic technique accurately. In reality artificial
intelligence is nothing but an extension of human consciousness. It
is a new stage of automation. Machines can be built in which
prognosis of outcomes of a few human tasks can be fed as data ,which
can then perform the task of arriving at a result and are indeed
being made. But the hypothesis that artificial intelligence laden
robots can one day replace humans is a ridiculously foolish dream.
Those who do not understand the true nature and character of human
consciousness can only believe and pay heed to such ludicrous
notions.
