Henry Gabriel
AI Response
I thought AI was a very interesting movie because it is a great example of the Searle vs. Dennett argument and made it a lot easier for me to bolster my own argument on the topic of artificial intelligence. In particular I think AI supported my own (and Searle's) view that matter does in fact matter and there is a great gap between performing a task and understanding the true nature of that action.
In the opening scenes of the film, it was clear that the female robot had a strong grasp of syntax, but little or no understanding of the semantics behind so-called 'human' emotions. In other words, she embodied the 'chinese room' system; she was able to function at the same level as a human, but she couldn't comprehend the meaning of what she was saying.
One thing that I think somewhat skewed the Dennett/Searle debate on film was the 'emotions' 'felt' by David towards Martin as well as his motivation to seek the Blue Fairy. The way that Spielberg presented David's 'feelings' such as envy, desire and motive were deceptive, and I think that Spielberg tried to blur the line between syntax and semantics.
After thinking about the movie, I reminded myself that Spielberg set out to create an educational and entertaining film rather than a strict interpretation of modern philosophical debate.
In the end, I felt some compassion for David and his fellow Mechas but AI only made me more sure that a) doing something and understanding it are two very different things and b) the matter of artificial intelligence is crucial if we want to create a truly 'human' machine. All in all, I think this movie should be considered validation of Searle's stance on AI.
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