Genius Machine

Will machines surpass the human brain?

Computers have the capabilities to do a large number of things, but surpassing the human brain is up for debate. Although many disagree, Marvin Minksy certainly thinks that computers can do just that, advance beyond human brain capabilities. In fact he even thinks they could potentially be more conscious then humans (Davidson 116). He argues that computers, which can already do a wide array of things, can do far more then the brain can because they are programmed to do so. They can hold much more information than the human brain can (Davidson 120), and can also be programmed to revert back to internal records (Davidson 120) which is something that we humans cannot.

I remember my first experiences with a computer from when I was about five or six years old. There was a big, bulky monitor and a screen that displayed in a shaded green color. It didn’t take CD’s or have USB ports, but it accepted 5” floppy disks with ease. But now, not even two decades later, you can find laptops that are smaller than a piece of paper and slimmer then our textbook. It’s no doubt that technology has rapidly advanced, and will continue to progress in the future. Look where we stand now. At minimum technology makes things easy. It does things faster then we can and usually with more accuracy. It can indeed store more information than the human brain and can recall it without problems. But whether or not it reaches, or will reach a point beyond human capabilities is questionable.

I personally don’t think machines will ever be able advance over humans. How can you teach a machine to feel? No matter how highly developed they become, they can't have emotions like human beings. They won’t be able to act on instinct because there won't be any gut feeling. Small factors though these may seem, I feel they leave humans one step ahead, tipping the scale. We, as to say humans, are the ones creating these machines anyways, aren’t we?