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What would Aristoteles think of AI?
DukeRem15 April 2023
  Here is the first of a series we're starting on #Turtle's #AI #Magazine. We'll be looking at some philosophers' possible thoughts about AI, if they were able to apply their original models and theories to what's going on today. The first in the line is #Aristoteles. Aristotle believed that all natural things have an innate purpose or end (Greek: telos). He may have seen AI as an artificial construct that lacks a natural telos or purpose. AI systems today are built by humans to serve certain functions, but Aristotle may have felt they lack an innate purpose of their own. He also believed that all things in the natural world could be understood by analyzing their material, efficient, formal, and final causes. The material cause of AI would be the physical computing systems. The efficient cause would be the programs and algorithms. The formal cause would be the structure and logic by which those algorithms operate. But again, Aristotle may have felt AI lacks a natural final cause or purpose. Aristoteles stated that the soul is the essence of any living thing. Since AI systems lack a soul, Aristotle would likely have judged them as not truly alive. At best, he may have seen them as artificial constructs that simulate life. He believed that intellect requires not just logical reasoning but also intuition, emotion, perception, and moral judgment. He may have felt that AI today relies too much on logical reasoning and lacks those other attributes of human intellect and thinking. So Aristotle likely would have judged AI as limited in its cognitive abilities. However, Aristotle also believed that through systematic study, knowledge can be built up from first principles. He valued both empirical study of the world as well as logical reasoning. So while Aristotle may have been skeptical about the potential of AI, he likely would have supported continued research and experimentation, with the hope that it leads us to deeper insights into the nature of thinking itself. In summary, Aristoteles' philosophical principles suggest he would have had a rather balanced perspective on AI: recognizing its limitations as an artificial construct lacking a telos, soul, and full intellect, but also valuing the knowledge that can be gained through its continued development and study. His perspective reminds us that human and machine intelligence are qualitatively different, even as AI continues to become more advanced and autonomous.