Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

TOK, can a machine know

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Tok : Can a Machine Know? The definition of knowledge is under constant and ever-lasting debated due to its impalpable nature. However, in general, it is agreed that "Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning." The Oxford English Dictionary defines knowledge to be "(i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation." Overwhelming advances in technology have led people to contemplate weather machines can themselves gain knowledge, a property once only attributed to the human conscious. A machine is defined to be "A device consisting of fixed and moving parts that modifies mechanical energy and transmits it in a more useful form." Arguments and debates around this question are numerous and well supported and touch realms of psychology, philosophy, religion and others. ...read more.

Middle

Human beings are capable of spontaneous knowledge, arising from practically nothing (example intuition). Knowledge with human beings is also changeable and flexible according to perception, something a machine lacks and is deprived of having. Also, with the argument of computers being able to know, we must understand how it functions. Computers and similar technologies execute arithmetic calculations (which are quite basic, simple, and repetitive) in order to perform and display pre-programmed or recently applied commands. These calculative methods are also instilled by humans (who determine what and what computers cannot know). This means they're limited, based on previous knowledge, cannot acquire new knowledge, cannot reason qualitatively, and only performs tasks (against knowing consciously). Some others argue that the new technology the world currently has is capable of knowing. Their strongest argument is Artificial Intelligence (AI). There are many philosophies about Artificial Intelligence, and knowledge itself is a central issue in the matter. ...read more.

Conclusion

This statement is also self-explanatory. The strongest philosophical stance currently is that "The brain can be simulated."- Hans Moravec & Ray Kurzweil. They, among others, claim that with the new biological and physiological understanding of the brain and its functions, it can be simulated with hardware and software programs, giving machines human-like knowing. These are the basic and most powerful arguments concerning AI, the main position from which arguers claim that machines are capable of knowing. The question of whether a machine is capable of knowing is very debatable. Until knowledge is properly and precisely defined, any answer can be heavily supported. Until further advances in the realm of technology however, we cannot ultimately claim machines know, due to their limits in many a trait human's possess and use in their knowing process. Also knowing requires a conscious, unconscious, and subconscious, which is currently limited to human beings. "There are no facts, only interpretations"-Nietzsche, and since machines cannot make a conscious choice in believing (being only limited to what it is pre-programmed to "know"); I believe a machine is not capable of knowing. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge essays

  1. In what sense, if any, can a machine be said to know something? How ...

    Many of Galen's ideas were later proven wrong by other scientists, but he held the responsibility of spreading the beliefs he held to be correct. Knowers who understand a concept must spread their knowledge in order to advance the study of what that knowledge pertains to.

  2. How do I know what is right and what is wrong?

    my morals because I was "selfish" and only did it for my own personal benefits. Thinking about that made me reflect on some of my prior actions and in a sense it really did sort of make sense. One of those prior actions would be a time when I broke

  1. Seeing James the Red Engine cry, prompted me to ask whether a machine could ...

    A dualist could argue that it is true to say the body of a human is a complicated machine, but the mind of a machine is a wholly different entity. A machine is a purely physical system, this cannot be denied, and in this way is the same as our physical body.

  2. Art assignment TOK

    but the spaces are so tightly together and with small spikes which make the piece impenetrable just like its named. It also looks modern and neat as it appears to be floating in the air and can be appreciated in 360�.

  1. can a machine know TOK

    Some ways of knowing cannot be used by machines so thus can a machine know?. There exists a major difference in the ways of knowing for a human and a machine. Man's ways of knowing are language, perception, emotion.

  2. Can a machine know

    How many times has my mother of father commanded me to go out and empty the garbage or to clean my room? Even if I complain and whine about how busy I am, I still do it anyway. My computer is very similar, recently I wanted to make a DVD

  1. Can a machine know?

    This is related to perception and emotions. We can also know that it will rain tomorrow because the sky is getting darker: this is related to reason. There is also the "knowing how", which means that we know how to do things, helped by our instinct.

  2. Can a machine know?

    The two elements were however very similar to each other in terms of colour. The holes of my knowledge were filled from the experience. In terms of a computer they cannot rely on this type of method to gain

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work