Minds and machines

The emergence of electronic computers in the last thirty years has given rise to many
interesting questions. Many of these questions are technical, relating to a machine’s
ability to perform complex operations in a variety of circumstances. While some of these
questions are not without philosophical interest, the one question which above all others
has stimulated philosophical interest is explicitly non-technical and it can be expressed
crudely as follows: Can a machine be said to think and, if so, in what sense? The issue has
received much attention in the scholarly journals with articles and arguments appearing
in great profusion, some resolutely answering this question in the affirmative, some,
equally resolutely, answering this question in the negative, and others manifesting
modified rapture. While the ramifications of the question are enormous I believe that the
issue at the heart of the matter has gradually emerged from the forest of complications