on to answer and there is currently a great deal of controversy surrounding this topic. There are many experts who feel that computers will eventually be able to simulate the human mind; however, there are just as many other experts who adamantly disagree with this point of view.In the 1950s, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon were among the first researchers to develop the theory that computers would eventually be able to imitate the human mind. Newell and Simon compared artificial intelligence to the human mind by creating an "information-processing model." According to this model, a computer and a human mind are similar to one another in that both are designed to process information by manipulating symbols. On the basis of this model, Newell and Simon concluded it would not be long before computers would be able to "think" like humans; not merely in a superficial sense, but in the exact same way. Their hypothesis was that "a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for general intelligent action." Further support for this view came from the British mathematician Alan Turing. Turing devised a theoretical experiment (now known as the "Turing Test") in which a person has a conversation over a teletype machine. The person does not know whether the teletype machine is connected to a human being or to a computer on the other end. A series of questions are asked in an effort to determine which one it is. According to this test, "if no amount of questioning or conversation allows you to tell which it is, then you have to concede that a machine can think." Alan Turing used this idea to formulate one of the fundamental principles of artificial intelligence: "If a machine behaves intelligently, we must credit it with intelligence." Another way of saying this is: "A perfect simulation of thinking is thinking." On the surface, this seems like a rather weak conclusion. However, Robert Sokolowski makes an inter...
