Flipped Video Lesson # 10

If we can be tricked by computers into believing that they have intelligence and intentionality and a sense of being, then what does that say about who we are?

I do not think that although we are able to be tricked by computers into believing that they have intelligence and a sense of being identifies or defines who we are as people.  Our brain is constantly working and stores many pieces of information that sometimes may be confused with something else by association.  In the film for example, the old lady watching the presentation by the robot simulating Lincoln believed that he was a real actor when he really wasn't.  If we take the brain's perception of Lincoln, it already has information stored on how a human being moves, walks, and talks.  Now there is a robot that has the exact mannerism of that of a human being.  The brain does not automatically know that it is a robot, instead it forms an opinion based on the messages being transmitted and assumes it is a human being by associating what it already knows of what a human being looks like and how they speak and act.  Similar to that old saying, "if it quacks like a duck, it must be a duck."  

I don't think that because we perceive something to be what it is not at first glance makes us gullible, foolish, or less intelligent than anyone else.  Our brain simply forms an idea and we follow and accept what we see fit until proven otherwise.