Conditions for computer simulation of thought processes to become actual thought

Abstract

This paper is intended to break the current research impasse on issues of mechanized thought. It bypasses the untractable recursive question: Is the human brain powerful enough to understand its own working? focusing on a more tractable:

Can we model, and maybe induce the process of thought? Given that this modeling effort is a particular thought process, this second question is also recur sive in nature and more general: it permits us not to consider the limitations of our brains due to their biological implementa tion.

In this article I model the concepts of complexity, error, surprise, intuition, thought and insight. I also analyze the concepts of consciousness and feelings. I describe the features any thinking system must have. It appears that humans might be able to create such systems in future.

Keywords

Abstraction complexity consciousness description feeling formal system insight intuition law of Nature meaning model natural system observ able self-awareness thought.

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References

Searle, John R. : "Is the Brain's Mind a Computer Program?," Scientific American, January 1990, Vol. 262, No.1, pp. 26-31.

Churchland, Paul M. , and Churchland , Patricia Smith : "Could a Machine Think?," Scientific American, January 1990, Vol. 262, No.1, pp. 32-27.

Casti, John L. : Alternate Realities: Mathematical Models of Nature and Man, John Wiley & Sons, 1989.