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Next Frontier:
Thinking
Machines
"Stop, will you-stop,
Oave!" But Dave
continued to pull out Hal
the computer's memory
blocks one by one. "Stop,
Oave, l'm afraid. My mind
is going. 1 can feel it. 1
can feel it. ... "
When the movíe
2001: A
Space Odyssey
appeared
in
1968,
the concept of a
self-conscious, " íntellígent"
computer called Hal
became frightfully realistic.
In a recently released
seque!,
2010,
Hal is back
controllíng the starshíp
Oiscovery
on a " daríng
romp through !he solar
system."
ls a computer wílh
artificial intellígence líke Hal
really possible? Computer
scientísts say yes. Theír
next frontier of research ís
January
19 85
a new breed of
supercompulers thal would
surpass today 's machines
a thousand times over, so
smarl thal they can
oulthink humans.
While such prospects
are met wilh some concern
by nonscíentists, scientists
in several nations are
already ploddíng toward
the goal of artificial
intelligence: computers that
can reason as people do,
learn from experience and
communicate in human
language.
Says Patrick H. Winston,
director of Massachusetts
lnstitute of Technology's
Artificial lntelligence
Laboratory: "lt 's like being
at Kitty Hawk when the
Wright brothers' plane took
off."
Today's expert
computers slore, retrieve
and manipulate vast
amounts of information on
databases.
l ntelligent machines,
MGM's
2001:
A Space
Odyssey
~
inl ell igence, by contnist , will
~
imbue computers with
1
~
" common sense." teach
them to understand
languages and make them
~
learn from experience by
' processing knowledge
based on logic, not
arithmetic.
Hong Kong:
Union Jack to
Come Down
in
1997
B
rilain has concluded
almos! two years of talks
wilh the People's Republic of
China regarding Hong Kong.
An outpost of Britain's
Coca;,e
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'TOr
Which country
will
be
first to develop fifth
generation computers?
lf the new wealth of
natíons is indeed
knowledge, international
computer supremacy will
give that country an
unequivocal advantage in
technology, science,
business, economics,
industry- and
warfare. •
worldwide empire for more
than a century, Hong Kong is
slated to become a specíal
adminístrative regían of
China in
1997.
In effect.
Brítaín will give up !he colony
in lhat year. when ils lease
on !he terrilory expires. The
end of Brilish rule in Hong
Kong is illustrative of the
rising importance of China
and the already diminished
role of !he Brilish in world
affairs.
The 50-year agreemenl
calls for China lo preserve
Hong Kong's Brilish-based
legal system. Hong Kong,
third largest financia! center in
!he world alter New York and
London. purportedly will retain
its free-market economy and
have financia! autonomy. The
arrangements are thal il will
remain a duty-free port. retain
ils own trading status. keep
ils convertible currency. Free
movement of capital is to
continue in and out of Hong
Kong. China will control
foreign and defense
•••1111~
policies. •
45