esting point in his article "Natural and Artificial Intelligence." In that article, Sokolowski notes that there are actually two different ways of looking at the word "artificial." On the one hand, it can relate to something like "artificial flowers," which are made of paper or plastic and are therefore obviously not real flowers. On the other hand, it can relate to an idea like "artificial light," which really is light. Thus, in the words of Sokolowski, artificial light "is fabricated as a substitute for natural light, but once fabricated it is what it seems to be." The proponents of AI believe that the word "artificial," as used in "artificial intelligence," is capable of reflecting this second meaning as well as the first. The followers of Newell, Simon, and Turing would agree with the idea that a machine could have both desires and awareness. In this regard, scientists have learned that emotions in human beings are aroused by chemicals in the brain. Although computers work with electricity instead of chemicals, an analogy can easily be drawn between the processing of information in a computer and the processing of emotional "information" in the brain. In his book Man-Made Minds: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence, M. Mitchell Waldrop makes the point that emotions are not simply random events; rather, they serve important functions in the lives of human beings. Based on recent discoveries in the field of psychology, Waldrop claims that emotions serve two major functions. The first is to help people focus their attention on things that are important to them. The second purpose, which is related to the first, is to help people determine what goals and motivations are important to them. According to Waldrop, there is no reason why a computer could not be programmed to carry out these same functions. In fact, Waldrop indicates that computer programs have been developed in recent years that seem to be on the border o...
