Future Tech Unveiled: AI, Biochips, and Game Theory

Game Theory: Foundations and Economic Impact

Compared to those achieved in the case of zero-sum two-player games, von Neumann and Morgenstern abandoned any attempt to specify optimal strategies for individual players. Instead, they specified models where proposed coalition formation is consistent with rational behavior. They denied that game theory played such a role in resolving the inherent indeterminacy of problems between two people. In fact, they endorsed the view that had prevailed among economists at least since the time of Edgeworth, whereby problems of interaction between two people are inherently indeterminate.

Applications of Game Theory in Economics

Game theory now has many applications, but economics is where the main ideas produced by game theory specialists are found.

Advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Software

Doug Lenat, a mathematician and scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, aimed to encode over one hundred million pieces of general knowledge and reasoning into a knowledge-based software system. Its goal is to equip a computer with all the general knowledge and common sense an adult possesses, which, according to Lenat, is enough to allow it to continue its education by reading books, newspapers, and magazines.

Biochips: The Future of Biological Computing

In the office of Masuo Aizawa, a scientist at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, a transparent, flat chip in a container filled with liquid drew attention. It appears dotted, but appearances deceive. The elongated, granular spots on Aizawa's chip are not raised; rather, they are living neural cells integrated into an electronic-biological circuit. This represents the first step toward building a semi-artificial brain, neuron by neuron. Aizawa believes that it may be easier to use living cells to build intelligent machines than to mimic their functions with semiconductor technology.

Defining Artificial Intelligence: Etymology and Debates

Etymological Roots of Intelligence

The word 'intelligence' comes from the Latin word intelligentia, which means 'the ability to understand or comprehend.' This etymology is not very enlightening, as it actually dates back to another Latin word, legere, which means 'to choose.' Hence, intelligere communicates the meaning of assembling elements, choosing between them, and forming ideas, leading to understanding and being.

Arguments Against Artificial Intelligence

The arguments against artificial intelligence can be summarized in the following points:

• Machines lack creativity.
• Machines have no conscience.
• Machines cannot achieve ethical principles to govern their conduct.

Responses to Criticisms of AI

Against these negative arguments, experts who believe in the legitimacy of artificial intelligence respond as follows:

• Machine learning lays the foundation for creativity.
• The state of consciousness and ethics are not crucial for the affirmation of intelligence and can possibly be achieved.