MUST A COMPUTER HAVE A USER?

摘要

Must a computer have a user? My personal answer to this question is "yes" - even though I think that, to my culture, this is no longer clear; that is: people-in-general see no particular difference between the functions which a computer can perform and the "functions" of use. I believe this trend has been encouraged by Science-in-general and by Computer-Science-in-particular - and most especially by AI. Science-in-general has refused to see a difference between the "functions" of Life, and the "functions" of inanimate matter. Computer-Science (and AI in particular) have carried this indifference a step further in regarding the computer, not as a tool in the hands of man, but as a new form of "artificial" being that can "improve" on human performance in various respects. I, on the other hand, continue to regard the computer as a tool in the hands of man. I am in the midst of developing a theory which asserts that a necessary aspect of all action is responsibility, and that the user - a human-being-in-society, a living being - is the only possible carrier of responsibility as regards computer-supported action. For, the carrier of responsibility must be capable of rewards and punishments - the key attribute that no "artificial being" can have. Is it too long? Is it too anything-else?