Complexity
The human brain is the most complex entity in the known universe. It is not an exaggeration to say that we have hardly begun to understand it. Yet already there are many initiatives to simulate the intelligence it bears. In contemporary science, the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ has taken on a rather different meaning from when it was first introduced. It seems our notion of intelligence has weakened; whilst once upon a time an agent had to pass the Turing Test to merit the appellation, now it is applied to relatively rudimentary problem-solvers which appear positively dumb in comparison. An agent that could pass the Test would have demonstrated nothing less than Artificial Personhood. Would this be a qualitatively different achievement from that of current intelligent software agents which turn their digital hands to various algorithmic tasks? Or is it merely a case of developing greater processing power and finding the right algorithms?