Final Essay

Introduction to Communication CMST 1A03- Final Essay

Comparing Alan Turing’s Concepts of Artificial Intelligence and Steven Pinker’s Theories of Communication.

Steven Baisley

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T-22

Diego

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, seems to be the precursor for the next generation of artificial intelligence. What edge do humans have? Is there a place for us in the future or will the human race become an obsolete “meat unit”, as Sévigny deemed it in Communications 1A03? “Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation”(Chomsky). These basic principles govern how humans have evolved to communicate. Furthermore, it is how the concepts of artificial intelligence have developed to be more human like. This paper will compare Alan Turing’s concepts of artificial intelligence to Steven Pinker’s theories of communication. More specifically, the concepts and theories of the writer’s relating to universal grammar, the development of communication as an art, and finally how artificial intelligence is bridging the gap from man to machine.

Universal Grammar simply put, is the most basic and simple set of biologically encoded, innate rules in the brain that with the proper stimuli, can produce language. Pinker adopts Noam Chomsky’s theory that “Language is a complex specialized skill which develops in the child spontaneously and without conscious effort or formal instruction. It is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, and is qualitatively the same in every individual and is distinct from more general abilities to process information of behave intelligently”(43). Therefore, every being starts with the same innate skill to acquire a language. However, due to the differences in stimuli in each learning environment, developments of unique languages emerge in people.

Moreover, Universal Grammar can be equated to Turing’s concepts of binary code instilled in artificial intelligence. Underlying all of the software and mimicking programs, a basic ‘grammar’ of sorts governs the computers’ actions and protocol. Ones and zeros in lines of code are similar to the innate skill of the computer when it is first assembled. Without this code, there is no way for the computer to learn new programs that are installed by the user. As the programmer introduces new lines of code to the computer, its abilities evolve through the formation of software, similar to environmental stimuli in humans.

The views of the two theorists differ in the ways that a computer can learn and evolve compared to that of a human child. Pinker explains that “is that [language] is universal because children actually reinvent it, generation after generation” (50). An example of this is the grammar of Creole, which is largely the “product of the minds of the children, unadulterated by complex language input from their parents, it should provide a particularly clear window of the innate grammatical machinery of the brain”(Pinker 51), compared to the Pidgin native language of their parents after they migrated to Hawaii. Turing’s concept of evolutionary learning for artificial intelligence is directly linked to the intelligence of the programmer. Turing agrees with the statement “The Analytical Engine has no pretensions to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform” (Turing 83). This leads to the computer using the collective ideas and knowledge that the programmer has inculcated in it through imitation or mimicking.

On the contrary, Pinker believes the opposite. Human children do not imitate in order to learn language. The example he provides is the preschooler named Sarah. Sarah when communicating, created several different forms of the English agreement rule in complex sentences. “She must, then, have created these forms herself, unconscious version of the English agreement rule.” (Pinker 57) Her parents were only high school educated and had no concept of these sentences. Therefore Pinker argues “if children are general imitators, why don’t they imitate their parents’ habit of sitting quietly in airplanes” (Pinker 57)? Additionally that Sarah could have only learned the complex knowledge of English language by a deeper underlying understanding, the result of Universal Grammar. In conclusion it is evident that Pinker’s ideas on humans and Turing’s concepts of artificial intelligence with computers share many of the same attributes in the innate skill to acquire an language but differ in how they perceive the development and refinement of the language skills.

To better understand how Turing’s concepts of artificial intelligence compare to Pinker’s thoughts on communication as the ability to acquire an art, the definition of ‘art’ must first be understood. Art as defined in the Oxford dictionary is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power” (Oxford1990). Therefore, before starting to compare Turing’s concepts of artificial intelligence to Pinker’s ideas of communication, one first has to realize that the root word in artificial is ‘art’.

Can machines produce art? Art means different things to different people, and to some, the work that machines complete can be classified as such. An excellent example of this is fractals. Although the beautiful, captivating, swirling designs are simply random digits evaluated through integrals by the machine. Another example of Turing’s concepts in the real world is the 1’s and 0’s of binary code creating games, models and even simulations. To illustrate this point, take fighter jet simulations for example. Many pilot’s heart’s race as they are put into the simulation. It is how they perceive the binary information bombarding them, to construct an artificial environment based on combination of sensory inputs to the pilot. As previously discussed, Pinker endorsed the idea of universal grammar. He believed that the grammar was completely different than the language. As a child ages, the language develops in to a specialized skill. Pinker defines this language skill as an art that develops as the child grows and learns.

Finally, it is evident that a both humans and machines are capable of producing art, depending on each individuals definition of art. Machine stimulation even though it is simply binary code, which feels real enough, can replace the real thing as evident in training simulators.

Humans are like mechanical meat entities. As time progresses, humans are becoming more like machines and machines like humans. One could say that the gap between man and machine is closing as we evolve to collect the best traits of each side. Pinker’s ideas of humans being intelligent biological machines appears very accurate. So without the biological component, nothing separates us from being intelligent machines. Furthermore, Pinker believes that language is an individual piece of the biological makeup in the brain (Pinker 43).

If language is an instinct, it should have a specific spot in the brain, and possibly a set of genes that wire it into place (Pinker 42). This suggests that language is a human mental organ and it has evolved over time according to natural selection. Pinker suggests it all began with the theory that there was the first grammar mutant; that is the first individual undergoing a genetic change, which produced some capacity for syntax. The mutants comrades would have partially understood what the mutant was saying just using basic intelligence. Natural selection could have enhanced language ability by favouring the speakers in each generation that the hearers could best understand, and the listeners who could best decode the speakers. This theory makes sense in that utility of language development is because humans everywhere depend on cooperative efforts for survival, forming alliances by exchanging information (Pinker 43).

In addition, Turing’s concept of artificial intelligence can be understood by language as a symbolic representation of an object through neurological signals decoded in the brain, similar in the way that a computer can comprehend the words typed by a human operator. Each individual keystroke is a representation for a series of electrical signals sent to the motherboard, which are displayed as a representation of pixels on the screen. The ways in which artificial intelligence and humans understand information through communication is in essence identical except for the comprehension of emotional information in a person.

Turing explains his thoughts on human consciousness and how they differ than a machine. He explains that the consciousness objection, machines cannot feel emotions so therefore they are not intelligent, is not a valid argument against his theory. Touring says, “consciousness and thinking are two different things. He is not trying to build a conscious machine; he is building a thinking machine” (Turing 80). He is implying that anything that could pass his test is intelligent. He put forward the idea that a simulation that runs well enough can replace the original, so a machine that looks like it is thinking, is really thinking. Pinker takes the side that “language is a complex skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction”(Pinker 42). Pinker believes that language and therefore intelligence is linked to consciousness even though no effort or instruction is needed, whereas Turing believes that consciousness and thinking are two completely different things.

However, both writers share similar views on how stimuli from the surrounding environment shape communication. Steven Pinker deems that humans convert all stimuli and feeling into information for the brain to create a mental representation so we can have an understanding. Compare this with Turing and how an artificial intelligence being interacts with the surrounding world. Computers also interpret external stimuli to construct a virtual representation through the use of microphones, web cameras and scanners. All of these input devices take in audio, or visual stimuli and convert it to digital signals that they can understand by the processor.

Therefore, it is evident that the communication gap between man and machine is closing, although the authors offer differing opinions how. One can understand that everything in the world is just information and understanding. This is the basic principle of communication, whether it is between humans, machines, or between the two, like is increasingly becoming the case.

This paper has outlined the similarities and the differences amid Steven Pinker’s ideas of communication and Alan Turing concepts of artificial intelligence. Such topics as universal grammar, art and the closing gap between humans and machines are further realization these theorists may be correct. Turing states, “The consequences of machines thinking would be too dreadful ”(79). Some members of society do not want to admit that machines will do for themselves and may be a threat to us. If you stick your head in the sand and deny it, one is only prolonging the inevitable realization this will occur. This also begs the question, with machines and new technology, what will stop them from gradually replacing aspects of human life? Perhaps this intelligence is merely providing enough information to society in order to persuade them. Noam Chomsky said it best when he stated, “If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion” (Chomsky 2006), but a future with artificial intelligence is inevitable.

Works Cited:

"Art." Def.1a. The Concise Oxford Dictionary. 8th ed. 1990.

Chomsky, Noam. Language and the Mind. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc, 1968.

Chomsky, Noam. “‘The Noam Chomsky Website:’ Interviews.” 2006. 15.10.2007. http://www.chomsky.info/.

Pinker, Steven. “An Instinct to Acquire and Art.” Introduction to Communication. Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 2006. 41-45.

Pinker, Steven. “Chatterboxes.” Introduction to Communication. Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 2006. 47-61.

Sévigny, Alexandre. Communication 1A03. McMaster University, Hamilton. 5 Oct 2007.

Turing, A.M. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Introduction to Communication. Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 2006. 77-85.