ain objection to the idea that computers might someday become human-like is that it would imply that humans are not as special and unique as they like to think they are. In the words of Daniel C. Dennet: "There is something about the prospect of an engineering approach to the mind that is deeply repugnant to a certain sort of humanist." Marvin Minsky, an AI enthusiast from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, put this threat more vividly with this claim that "the brain happens to be a meat machine." However, as Waldrop points out, scientific progress has always represented uncomfortable change for human beings. This can be seen, for example, in the discoveries of Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud, all of which marked dramatic changes in the ways human beings saw themselves and their place in the world. Perhaps, as Waldrop argues, such scientific advances don't have to be taken as a "message of doom." Perhaps, as computers become more intelligent, the more subtle and vital differences that make humans unique from machines will become apparent. Thus, we will gain deeper insights into the human mind and what it really means to be a human being. The scientist Douglas Hofstadter, who claims that the reductionism of comparing the human mind to a computer does not bother him, gives another optimistic opinion. In Hofstadter's words: "To me, reductionism does not 'explain away'; rather, it adds mystery." Therefore, a future in which machines are more human-like is not only possible; it also might not be as bad as present-day humans fear....
