Minsky suggests that machines with millions of times more parts than ever before will be able to do radically different things. Do you agree? Can you give examples of other phenomena about which we've had to "learn to change how we think about [them] on those larger scales"?
The story of SAINT illustrates that computers can take actions or solve problems in ways that "surprise their programmers," in contrast to the idea that "Computers do only what they're programmed to do." Do you buy the contrast?
In the section "Expertise and Common Sense," Minsky says "in order for a machine to behave as though it 'knows' anything, there must exist, inside that machine, some sort of structure to embody or 'represent' that knowledge." Do you think that's what happens in the human brain? That is, is this 'representation' approach an emulation of the organization of the brain or an emulation of the behavior of the brain?
Minsky was writing in 1990; he said "few optimists predient a thousandfold increase in speed over the next generation." How many faster are computers now than they were in 1990? (This is a bit of a research question.)
Does Minsky seem to agree or disagree with Davis about the evolution of the human brain? Explain...
How does the last paragraph relate to the discussion we were having at the end of class last week, about the differential abilities of humans and computers?