Session 1 - Outfitting Ourselves for the Quest from the Village of Pons Asinorum
Location Idea Image
steps Each student in order by name and object for each one face and item
at door Simonides - drawing memories on locations - importance of understanding genuine intelligence we possess - how we use it and what it really is before we can deal with what is being called artificial intelligence picture of squashed
on sofa Socrates with ? on head and big book of questions his face with @ on it
on sofa Men sharpen men as iron sharpens iron. two knives
on floor next to sofa Tolerance and compassion for each other keep the heat down as we question each other's ideas bucket of water
on radiator C. S. Lewis book Words - quotes to read together about words pile of words
on mantel The dictionary reminds us that a word does not help us communicate and share unless it becomes a term.  Tonight we are going to start thinking together to gain these shared understandings and to be on our guard as we read the books and articles and listen to discussions and tapes and movies as to the way a word may be used contrary or differently than its normative meaning. dictionary
under table The paper dictionary is from 1958 and the digital dictionary is more recent so we will compare the definitions to see if some changes have been wrought in words over the past 44 years.  Also which dictionary is 'smarter' ? digital dictionary
on table History of making machines that indicate intelligent design - the birthday machine.  What is a machine? bd machine
on chair Detecting whether something is a machine and intelligently designed raises questions about our own intelligence as to whether it is artificial.  What can we use as an intelligence detector when it comes to looking at things to see if thought has gone into their design?  Behe, Dembski and others are now raising questions about our own intelligence and more and more scientists are doubtful that chance could bring about intelligence.  We will be looking under a microscope into something called Darwin's Black Box with Michael Behe and see a tiny machine that he and other say could not have evolved by mere chance. microscope
climbing on pocket door History of making automatons has us meet a French scientist Vaucoson and his incredible automatons.  His butlers who served and cleared a meal amazed those in the 17th century.  We need to distinguish between an automaton, a robot and a robosapien and perhaps also as we go along the cyborg.  How are these turtles designed? turtle race
other pocket door History of Robots - the wall crawling machine is a robot because it is designed to change what it does based on changes in its environment.  Also notice that no computer is necessary to have a robot. the vertibot
turtle bowl ontop of light How do we know that this turtle is nothing more than a programmed robot?  It has DNA that contains all of its instincts and it always snaps at certain things that fall on the water if they move in a certain way and are of a certain size.  If we took it apart at the microscopic level do we find a robotic creature that has built in instinctual mechanisms that have it respond in certain ways to its environment?  Cold blooded it slows down automatically in the cold and suspends nearly all activity.  Does this indicate an artificial intelligence? snapping turtle in water
sticking out of wall socket The history of computers keyboard sticking out of wall socket
on sofa by front of room The history of A.I. and the efforts up to date - links on the internet, your book about Robosapiens, A.I. Movie, Bicentiental Man, Blade Runner, Commander Data and Matrix tin man, scaredrow and wizard of oz and lion
looking up the stairs and out the window Future implications - the so what? - Robot vision - abolition of man, the creation of a god like machine and the third commandment.  Asimov's fictional ideas and the views of Rodney Brooks, Dennet, Minsky and others. Picture of robot looking into the future

Session II - Exploring Real Intelligence and Ourselves
Location Idea Image
Dinning room head of table Simonides helps us see that there are various ways to actually write into our minds the things we wish to remember.  He called this artificial memory because it is one way to make ourselves remember something and requires artifices or places on which we paint images - it is like an art.  Programming our own minds with ideas and writing these ideas into a mental imagery code indicates what about our intelligence? pain brush, paints and a canvas
sits at other end of table The idea itself is something to think about.  What is an idea?  The light bulb has been a long time symbol of an idea lighting up the darkness of our thoughts.  An idea is a thought that comes to our conscousness and may or may not shed light on a subject or topic. light bulb dressed up as gyrogearlooses invention
lying on the table The man who thought he was dead is an illustration of how we try to fit information into our worldviews but in our course be aware at least that this is something you may be trying to do with some of this information and so are others.  Making a decision between which worldview fits the facts best is referred to in the book World View in Conflict. bandage bloody on finger
on right side of table Two world views about intelligence are represented by the invisible glove in the hand idea vs. the hand with no glove.  Materialism vs. Duality or Dualism. glove with invisible hand in it and the invisible man.
on left of table A chip off the old block is now being replaced by some with the idea of the chip in the brain.  The 'soul-catching chip' idea has been put forward by those who think thoughts are simply chemistry and electricty taking place in the brain. chip in the brain
hanging from chandalier Where are thoughts and memories?  Where does thinking take place?  Claire Sylvia claims that the thoughts and desires are not stored in the brain but are some how communicated to her by her the heart and lungs she received.  Distributed memory is one theory but another is that the human soul can continue to manifest its thoughts and ideas through any living tissues that might yet survive of that person. invisible man with heart and lungs being transferred
under table Darwin claimed that we were evolved without design or thought by chance processes into thinking beings.  No thought or design is involved therefore in our intelligence.  It is therefore not artificial but what he would call natural. darwin with box of body parts shaking it
under my desk Design theorists like Michael Behe think that our intelligence is the result of a designer and cite the irreducibly complex machinery out of which we and even the tiniest of creatures is made.  He has, he said, opened Darwin's black box - in other words Darwin stated that he did not understand HOW mutations could form new features nor have any others explained it but simply assumed it.  Behe states that he has opened that black box at the molecular level and discovered machines that can't have one molecule taken away from them without them being useless mouse trap in a black box
in glass cabinet by radiator Our senses are involved in the use of our intelligence but are they necessary for us to have intelligence?  What are our senses?  We will look at a film about them and consider what some Darwinists/materialist have to say about our various senses and discuss how someone from the other perspective might consider our senses. nose, ears, eyes
by door to family room Dr. Wilder Smith indicates that our brains are like machines used by the soul.  This is the non-materialist thinking about our thinking - that the person uses the brain to gather information about the 3-d world of senses and give back to that world responses but it does not do the thinking itself. with a metal detector detecting nails in floor and walls
handing out of wall socket A thought experiment to help us think about thinking that is completely separated from all senses involves giving thought to a human being who is conceived with a fully functional brain and body but with a complete disconnect between all senses and the brain. cut cables
mirror over the serving area Consciousness and self-awareness is another feature of our intellect.  Stand for reason article in which he indicates the five aspects of our intelligence which include ... mirror in which we look

Session III - the current state of A.I. and The Goals of the Scientists
     

Session IV