Are You A Computer?

I picked up a new book earlier this week after seeing the author on The Daily Show. The book is entitled (no underline?) The Most Human Human: What Talking With Computers Teaches Us About What It Means To Be Alive. The book follows the author's involvement in the 2009 Turing Test, attempting to convince a panel of judges that he is, in fact, a human (not a computer). In his interview with Jon Stewart, author Brian Christian discusses part of his book that deals with the problem of redefining intelligence that arises in the advent of this age of computers and artificial intelligence. Having been interested in philosophy of mind and things like the Turing Test when I was in school, I knew I'd enjoy reading this book.

I was right. I'm flying through this thing. The author has a triple-major hybrid of philosophy, computer science, and poetry, and the book really showcases each simultaneously. I found the following paragraph particularly engaging (I probably am not going to quote this correctly, as I was taught way back when... que sera, sera):

"Thus, says Aristotle, the human arete (fulfillment of purpose) lies in contemplation-- 'perfect happiness is a kind of contemplative activity,' he says, adding for good measure that 'the activity of the gods ... must be a form of contemplation.' We can only imagine how unbelievably convenient a conclusion this is for a professional philosopher to draw--and we may rightly suspect a conflict of interest. Then again, it's hard to say whether his conclusions derived from his lifestyle or his lifestyle derived from his conclusions, and so we shouldn't be so quick to judge. Plus, who wouldn't have some self-interest in describing their notion of 'the most human human'? Still, despite the grain of salt that 'thinkers' praise of thinking' should have been taken with, the emphasis they placed on reason seemed stick."

I didn't sit down at the computer intendind to write a synopsis of the book, so I'll wrap up by say that this book is awesome and, most of the time, quite funny. I highly recommend it.