Computer Power and Human Reason

I thought that some of the insights and reactions to the ELIZA program were quite surprising and thought-provoking. For one thing, the thought of a computer program interacting with the a person as a therapist is something I've never heard of. I know of chat bots that people chat with now, so I think it is very interesting to learn about one that has a further purpose than just amusement. I can see how ELIZA can be a therapeutic tool to guide thoughts in self-reflection, but I was very surprised to hear that some thought that the ELIZA program could replace the need for a human therapist. Personally, it seems like a computer program would inevitably have its limits, and therefore might not process and respond appropriately to a patient's complex problem. I believe Joseph Weizenbaum never expected or intended his program to be a full-in replacement for a professionally-trained therapist.

Weizenbaum also mentioned the dilemma of Michael Polayni in 1935, when Polayni was told by a Russian communist theoretician that under socialism, the pursuit of science for its own sake would be put to an end and instead, and focus on solving the economic problems of the 5 Year Plan. Polayni realized the profoundness of this notion, because it seemed to prescribe a "mechanical conception of man or history." I thought this was a powerful thought. One thing that separates humans form machines or programs is our creativity. We have a desire to push boundaries, pursue creative ideas, the ponder and solve the problems we are interested in. We are flexible in our minds and behaviors. In terms of science, one of the beauties of it is that we always want to expand our human understanding of things. It would be kind of ridiculous to impose limits to scientific pursuit and to expect scientists to be ok with only solving the problems they are told to solve. It kind of ruins the beauty of scientific pursuit.

On the other hand, and another thing I thought was interesting, was Weizenbaum's observation of some people's blind belief of science. He wrote that "scientific statements are never certain, they are only more or less credible." I agree with that too. It's not uncommon for scientific findings to contradict with other findings. Things get disproven, and there are exceptions to even the most well known theories that most people have accepted as scientific fact. So Weizenbaum reminds us that we need to keep our minds open.