The temptation to see the human brain as a kind of machine has been around for a long time. Marvin Minsky, a pioneer in artificial intelligence, used to provocatively call humans “meat machines”. Going further back, one analogy from the pre-computer era described the brain as an “enchanted loom where millions of flashing shuttles weave a dissolving pattern”, as the science writer Michael Pollan describes in his new book A World Appears. So it is no surprise that some people at the forefront of AI now believe their models could soon become conscious. If the brain is akin to a computer, then why wouldn’t a super-powerful computer develop consciousness too?
将人脑视为一种机器的诱惑由来已久。人工智能(AI)先驱马尔温•明斯基(Marvin Minsky)曾经语出惊人，称人类是“肉做的机器(meat machines)”。科普作家迈克尔•波伦(Michael Pollan)在其新书《世界显现》(A World Appears)中提到，在更早的前计算机时代，曾有人将大脑比作一台“施了魔法的织布机，无数把飞梭在上面编织着不停消失变幻的图案”。