Introduction
In the year nineteen ninety-seven, the world chess champion Garry Kasparov was defeated by the IBM supercomputer, Deep Blue. The occurrence was considered a significant breakthrough in artificial intelligent technology. Thus, as the complicated as chess is, its rules were to be transformed into algorithms so that when computers finally got enough processing power, might crux through millions of possible games as well as moves. Hence, Clive Thompson, who has been writing journals based on the technology utilized this tale to write his “Smarter than You Think” book, which is sensible as well as insightful towards both human and machine intelligence. Therefore, he took to higher interesting level, and from the defeat, Kasparov decided to see what could occur if he paired a computer as well as the human chess player in the partnership (Thompson n.p). This improved the strength of every component such as large logic circuit processing power in addition to human’s brain wetware intuition.
I do agree with the point of Thompson that “artificial intelligence”, which are machines that are capable of thinking on their own just like or else better than humans- is not yet or will never be powerful when compared to “intelligence amplification”, which is smart occurring when human understanding is augmented through a closer interaction with the computer. For instance, when Kasparov continues to play in collaboration with the computer, he was freed from the focus on the game’s creative texture. Therefore, it is right as Thompson states that in the future, individuals must not fear being defeated in chess by Deep Blue, for instance. Alternatively, humans will be in a position to work in collaboration with the posterity of these supercomputers in diagnosing diseases, crime solving as well as poetry writing and thus becoming smarter than we think as the title of the book indicates. The event this is not originally a new idea since it has been founded on vision which was illustrated by Vannever Bush in the essay he wrote in nineteen forty-five, that is ‘As We May Think.' This article fabricated a memex machine which could recall as well as connect information for mere mortals. This concept had been refined by internet pioneer, Licklide in the early 1960s who wrote a paper entitled ‘Augmenting Human Intellect.' The human being usually found themselves opposing their colleagues as indicated by John McCarthy, who emphasized the objective of pursuing artificial intelligence machines which ensured that humans are left out of the loop (Thompson n.p).
On the other hand, I disagree with Thompson because he does not explore much into this rich technological as well as intellectual history. What is only provided by him are only present interesting examples of computer-human interdependence which enlarging human’s intellect. In the utilization of digital devices as well as social networks, Thompson helps to simplify collaboration creativity in addition to an ambient consciousness of what is going on in the world, while minimizing the need to carry out simple memory tasks. Additionally, Thomson has evaded both the hype as well as hand-wringing which is the most common among digital era pontificators through sidestepping various topics which disturb the geeko-share. For instance, whether Google is re-wiring the neuron system within our brains or else Twitter is transforming the universe into a safer democratic place. This is due to his believe that digital devices as well as social networks are balancing and improves the life of humans and advancing the global economy as printing press as well as telephone did when they were discovered (Thompson n.p).
When comparing Thompsons' writing with the philosophical works of Socrates, I disagree with him because he has pleasantly sport poked fun on the procession of the history by being so much pessimistic. He states that writing will contribute to the destruction of Greek traditional of interaction. According to Socrates, individuals had to write things down rather than to remembering them. The argument is that such act will lead to forgetfulness within the learners mind since they will not be utilizing their memories efficiently. Thus, students will develop trust on external written characters and forget about themselves. Thompson, therefore, counter attack Socrates by saying that he failed in foreseeing the kind of complication thought which could raise once an individual no longer required to store things mentally. Instead, Thompson’s inferences are that the same be truer in humans’ capability to digitally store as well as easily get into a large amount of information as well as memories outside human brains (Thompson n.p). The question is, what is different between human brain knowledge and a lot of information about our environment. Does this make human smarter when they instantly dip in or else dumber with each search?
It is true that our minds creativity are typically strengthened instead of being emaciated by the capability to interact effortlessly with both The Web as well as Wikipedia as stated by Thompson. I agree because through interaction; we have the ability to improve different performance at higher levels, in addition to completing reasoning act that seems impossible for us alone. He illustrates this by comparing his mind and a smartphone. For instance, at a tender age, his mind was jumbled with phone numbers memorized when he was a kid, on the contrary, he presently outsource such task to his smartphone. Through this, he can free his mind for more daydreaming. Additionally, with the improvement in technology, digital tools as well as networks provide humans with a chance to share ideas with one another as never before. It is now very easy although not incorrect to disparage much of the chattering which occurs every day within the blogs, Facebook pages as well as tweets. It, therefore, misses a more important phenomenon because the kind of people who fifty years ago were able to sit continuously in front of television sets the entire evening are currently expressing their ideas, customizing the for consumption by the public as well as receiving the feedback in return. This diversity can be considered to be a cause of scorn among intellectual socialites partly because we have not perceived what a social transformation it signifies (Thompson n.p). More significantly, the current produced blogs, as well as tweets in the modern world, is carried out apparently for the public to discourse as well as reaction. This may not be taking human back to Socrates’ dialectic agora, but it, at least, provides a more stimulating in addition to interactive dominion than before the existence of the internet.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is true that through the advancement of technology, human thinking have been enhanced, and the invention of artificial intelligent has led to the creation of smarter devices globally. I do agree with most of Thompson’s argument because they are seemly correct.
Work cited
Thompson, Clive. Smarter than you think: How technology is changing our minds for the better. Penguin, 2013.
