Is Descartes’ Distinction Between Humans and Machines Obsolete?

Authors

  • Barbara Ćuk Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Keywords:

Descartes, man, machine, speech, reason, artificial intelligence, algorithm that learns, tabula rasa

Abstract

In the October 2017 edition of Nature an article was published titled Mastering the Game of Go Without Human Knowledge. The article points out recent achievements in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). It describes an algorithm which learns, tabula rasa, superhuman proficiency in challenging domains, as for example the game Go. In his Discourse on the Method, René Descartes speaks of two features
that clearly and distinctly distinguish humans from machines and animals, namely speech and reason. This paper examines the article published in Nature and seeks to discover whether it disavows Descartes, and whether one should continue to read Descartes’ texts, or is his discourse on the distinction between humans and machines an obsolete belief? Secondly, what does the endeavour to fit this research
into a broader context tell us about the content and terminology that was used?

Downloads

Published

2020-08-13

Issue

Vol. 72 No. 4 (2017): Renewed Life, 2017, 72(4), 423-552

Section

Categorised papers

License

Jednom prihvaćeni članak obvezuje autora da ga ne smije objaviti drugdje bez dozvole uredništva, a i tada samo uz bilješku da je objavljen prvi put u Obnovljenom životu. Uredništvo će obavijestiti autora o prihvaćanju ili neprihvaćanju članka za objavljivanje.

Članci objavljeni u časopisu se, uz prikladno navođenje izvora, smiju besplatno koristiti u obrazovne i druge nekomercijalne svrhe.