Spielberg's A.I.

Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence confronted the controversy that we are now discussing regarding the difference between man and machine. In the movie, for the most part, the machines were created unequal to humans because they could not feel or have emotions. It could be argued that they had some form of a mind, but their differences from humans were far to great. David, the most advanced machine made thus far, had sensors input in him so that he could feel pain and he also had emotions attached to that pain. One great example is when the Mechas were asked about love. All of the more primitive robots defined love and how people act when in love. David recognized the question and responded the way a human would, with emotion. He didn’t just define love, but desired the feeling behind it rather then understanding exactly what it is. This showed how close David really was to being a human. Because he was so close to being “real”, David went beyond his programming and decided that he was a real boy and had dreams of actually being a real boy. Because he was not programmed to do such a thing, this shows that David truly has a conscious mind of his own to formulate these ideas.

This idea directly contradicts a commonly followed belief that there needs to be human brain matter in order to create a conscious mind. In Searle’s opinion, only brain matter can run the “programs” that lead to a conscious mind. Dennett would say that the movie is correct in portraying David as having a conscious mind because it does not matter what the super-system is made of, as long as it can run the right programs. In my opinion, Dennett has a good point because as long as something can function identical to a human, there is nothing to deny the fact that that creation can think like a human. David is able to run the programs that create the emotions of humans, therefore it is hard to deny the fact that he has a mind like any human would.