On the So-Called ‘Thought Machine’

Abstract

Modern computers do not only perform much faster tasks which are already feasible for older calculating machines, but are also fit for more refined, more complicated and more differentiated operations. In particular operations such as self-correction and self-programming make one think almost irresistably of ‘intelligent’ and ‘human’ behavior. For that reason it is no wonder that one has begun to speak of ‘thinking machines’. There is no longer a large step needed to arrive at the notion of a ‘thought machine’, even if that is something completely different.