Unit_8 is a race of robots possible

Is a race of robots possible

A good many technical people become irate(adj，盛怒的) when you call a computer a giant brain.They insist that a computer does only what thinking humans have planned to have it do.

如果你称一个计算机为“超级大脑”，有很多技术人员会非常生气。他们坚持认为电脑仅仅会做思考的人们计划让他们做的事情。

Yet one authority states categorically(绝对的，无条件的；分类的，按类别的),”A machine can handle information;it can calculate,conclude,and choose;it can perform reasonable operations with information.A machine,therefore,can think.”Famed mathematician Norbert Wiener,of MIT,envisions（v，相像，预见，展望） a machine that can learn and will “in no way （绝不）be obliged to（不得不，只得，必须） make such decisions as we should have made,or will be acceptable to us.”Evidently,he thinks machines can think.

但一个官方直截了当地表示“一台机器可以处理信息，它可以计算，总结以及选择，它可以用信息进行合理的运算。因此机器可以思考。”著名的数学家,麻省理工学院的Norbert Wiener假象一个机器可以学习，并且“绝不会被迫做出本应由我们做出的或者我们愿意接受的决定”。很显然，他认为机器可以思考。

There is a popular anecdote（n，趣闻，轶事，秘史） about a computer programmer who,just for a lark,spent days setting up the machine to destroy itself,then watched delightedly as the computer dutifully proceeded to commit suicide.If that machine could have thought,would it not have circumvented（adj，设法克服或避免） him? 有一个关于一个电脑程序设计员的著名轶事，他仅仅为了好玩，花了几天设计了一个可以自我毁灭的机器，然后高兴地看着那个电脑忠诚地执行程序来实施自杀。如果那个机器可以思考，他怎么会陷害自己呢？

To me the controversy（n，争论。contrast，对比） boils down to（浓缩成，煮成） a definition of the word think.There is no area in physiology（生理学。physical，adj自然界的，n，身体检查，体格检查。Physic，n，医学。physiatrist，n，物理治疗师） that is less understood than the human brain.Practically all that is known is that the brain contains some ten billion tiny cells called neurons.

对我而言，这场争论主要集中于“思考”这个词。在生物学里，没有哪个领域比对人脑的了解更少了。事实上我们全部知道的就是大脑包括100亿个神经元的小细胞。

Apparently neurons are elementary（基本的） memory units,capable of storing the same kind of information “bits” that a machine can store.The completely materialistic view is that neurons,along with an extraordinary network of nerve-communication lines,comprise all that is to the brain.But such an explanation fails to account for how the brains originates thought.

很明显神经元是基本的记忆单位，可以和机器一样存储那种信息“字节”。纯唯物主义的观点是神经元和一个非凡的神经网络系统，也就是一些通讯路线，将以上一切综合起来就是大脑。但是这种解释没能解释大脑是如何产生思想的。 Probably the clearest differentiation between man and machine is a quantitative （adj，

数量的，定量的）one.The brain has roughly（adv，粗略的，大体上，大致上，粗暴的） a million times as many components（n，成分，零件，要素） as the best computer.On the other hand,the difference may lie in a spiritual（adj，精神的，心灵的） factor,embraced by religion.At any rate（无论如何） ,a machine cannot exercise free will or originate anything-not yet.Whether it ever will is still an open argument. 可能人和机器之间最清晰的区别是量的区别。因为大脑的组成部分大概是最好的电脑的一百万倍。另一方面，根据宗教信奉的，他们的不同之处可能还在于精神因素。无论如何，一个机器不能实现自由意志或者穿凿任何东西，至少目前还不能。至于它将来会不会实现仍然是在公开争论。

Computers can already do a lot of surprising things,which include predicting the weather.The machine is able to make forecasts by assimilating vast quantities of data,but this,as well as most of the other tasks now performed by the thinking machines,is routine,requiring thinking of a very low order.Let us see what happens when we go beyond this step.

电脑已经能够做很多令人吃惊的事情，包括预测天气。这种机器可以通过收集大量的数据来做预报，和思维机器一样，目前它们解决的大部分问题是例行的，对思考要求非常低。当我们跨越这一步后，让我们看看会发生什么。

A great many outstanding men are preoccupied with（专注于） computers that do nonnumerical（非数值） work:that is,machines that “go on from there” after all the figured are in.These men want to see,for example,whether inanimate（adj，无生命的，无生气的，无精打采的，单调的） devices can exercise judgment,make choices,give birth to ideas,and play games intelligently.At the far limit of possibility（最大可能性之内）,they wish to know whether,at least on paper,machines can reproduce themselves.In other words,are we really certain that a machine can do only what its programmer wills it to do?Already there are in existence a number of machines that approach these powers.The simplest type is the computer that understands logic.

有很多杰出的人正专注于让电脑做非数值工作，就是所有的数字输入后，机器能够“以此为基点继续干下去。这些人希望看到，例如无生命的设备能不能进行判断，做选择，产生点子，以及 …… 此处隐藏：8719字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……