The underrated debate about the artificial in AI

Authors

  • Orlando Lima Pimentel University of São Paulo, School of Philosophy, São Paulo, Brazil.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23925/1984-3585.2018i17p113-127

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence, Imitation game, Human computers, Alan Turing, Charles Babbage

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the debate concerning the role of artificiality in the study of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In order to do so, I will first show two different meanings of the term “artificial” and how both do not fit equally well when referring to Intelligence. Secondly, a distinction will be made concerning AI and its contextualized current uses. Once these semantic boundaries have been established, the role and meaning of “artificiality” in AI will be finally analyzed, having as our main reference Turing’s idea of an Imitation Game, the work of Charles Babbage and the forgotten economic category of professionals called “human computer”, fundamental to the development of computation before the invention of modern computers.

Author Biography

Orlando Lima Pimentel, University of São Paulo, School of Philosophy, São Paulo, Brazil.

Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from USP (2017) and Master's student at the same institution, has as object of study the work of the English mathematician, inventor and economist Charles Babbage. Currently, he is a member of the Philosophical Association Scientiae Studia, in which he organizes the Marx, Science and Technology Study Group and participates in the Artificial Intelligence Study Group, of the same institution, linked to the Institute for Advanced Studies at USP.

References

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Published

2018-05-29