Here is yet another difference between humans and machines.
We can recognise faces easily, even from acute angles and under adverse
conditions. But surprisingly computers have great difficulty in even knowing
that it is a face they are supposed to recognise!
This is more evidence that the basic AI assumption that humans are just
machines is on the wrong track.
But AI is yet another manifestation of materialist-naturalist philosophy.
Humans are thought to be machines by materialist-naturalists because
what else could they be under that philosophy? The Judeo-Christian
position that humans are "living souls" (Genesis 2:7), ie. a
material-nonmaterial compound unity, is simply rejected out of hand.
See also Bill Dembski's recent First Things article: "Are We Spiritual
Machines?": http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9910/articles/dembski.html
Steve
================================================
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/faces991117.html
ABCNEWS
[...]
Cognition of Recognition
I Know That Face - But How?
How do humans recognize faces? Scientists are divided, but one
thing's for sure: We're much better at it than computers. Click on
the image to test your skill with our quiz. (ABCNEWS.com)
By Kenneth Chang
ABCNEWS.com
Two eyes, a nose, mouth, couple of ears, hair.
All faces have all the same parts in roughly all the same places, yet
at a glance, without thought, you can distinguish your friends from
your parents from actors on television. Moreover, you can
recognize a face whether you see it from the front or side, partially
hidden under a hat, in sunlight or under spinning disco lights.
That's a talent that separates your brain from a supercomputer.
Computer vs. Brain
While computers can quickly calculate to umpteen digits the square
root of 2 or beat Gary Kasparov in chess, recognizing a face - even
recognizing it is a face, much less whose face it is - is something
that still largely confounds artificial minds.
"It is extremely hard for machines," says Pawan Sinha, a professor
of brain and cognitive sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, "because we have no idea what is the important piece
of information in the face that we can use to recognize it."
Researchers such as Sinha are trying to figure out what the brain
keys in on in a face, and their findings are often contradictory.
What Makes a Face Distinctive?
Do you recognize someone by the specific details of the face? Or
does the brain have a book of mug shots that it quickly pages
through? Or is it a combination of strategies?
Take our face test and gain some insight into how your brain
recognizes a face.
[...]
Copyright (c) 1999 ABC News Internet Ventures. Click here for
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Internet Safety Information
applicable to this site.
================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"According to the modern theory (called neo-Darwinism), changes occur in
organisms by mutations of genes. This leads to the existence of variation
amongst individuals. Some of these individuals may survive more
successfully than others (called natural selection), thus producing more
offspring with their new features. Gradually these new features will extend
throughout the population. If, however, the population is isolated from
others differences cannot spread, and over a period of time two varieties
come to exist. Only small changes to organisms have been actually
observed to occur by this mechanism. e.g. Industrial melanism, resistance
to antibiotics and insecticides. Evidence for larger changes must be
deduced from the fossil record. ("evolution", in Heffernan D.A., "The
Australian Biology Dictionary", [1987], Addison Wesley Longman
Australia: Melbourne, Australia, 1996, reprint, p87)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
--------------------------------------------------------------------