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Can Robots Have Minds?

            Robots have minds based on artificial intelligence, which gets machines to perform tasks the same or faster than a human mind. These tasks require judgment and intelligence. For instance, read stories, diagnose illnesses, assemble auto engines, guide missiles, sort mail, play chess and prove mathematical theorems. This paper will address robots' mental abilities to determine whether robots can have minds. After outlining how artificial intelligence as science has enabled machines to achieve human-like capabilities, the paper will evaluate two physicalist theories. One is functionalism, which states a mind can be explained with behavior outputs and sensory input patterns. Also, eliminative materialism states the brain is the mind. 

            The intelligence level of robots is used to determine whether they can be fully functional like human beings. In this case, intelligence is the flexibility and responsiveness to contingencies. Despite the intelligence of a robot, it must be fed the correct information to produce the desired outcome. However, when it comes to humans, they have to deal with the unforeseen. Even although humans do not know what to expect, they make the best of what comes their way. For instance, one can find their way back after getting lost or the ability to comprehend texts which one has never seen before. An indication that humans pursue goals is guided by handling interim developments and ongoing perception (Lycan 175). Besides, humans can balance and pursue multiple goals in their lifetime. The sensitivity to contingencies explains the intelligence of an individual. By being sensitive to information, one is considered an intelligent creature. The sense organs act as receptors that identify the information. It is stored and used by an individual through an unsystematic and complex process. Due to artificial intelligence, a robot is considered to be information-sensitive.

            Through the digital computer, a robot can be fed specifically designed information. After storing and managing this information, it can produce the desired outcome on demand. However, the difference between robots and human beings is the person who feeds the information. In the case of a robot, it feeds the information and determines which type of information to feed the robot. Moreover, the robot output's effectiveness and appropriateness are dependent on what is fed by a programmer or operator (Lycan 175). Therefore, a robot is said to be intelligent but lacks judgment. A robot lacks the internal sense of proportion, relevance, appropriateness with no purpose or goals. Hence, a robot can be considered to hold intellectual capacity but with limitations.

            The notion of a robot with a brain has been discussed by intelligent laymen, philosophers, and AI theorists based on comparing human minds and computers. The debate involves both philosophical and technical perspectives (Lycan 176). A discussion on whether a robot can perform a task that can be done by an intelligent human needs empirical evidence over time. For example, people would have asked whether a machine could fly in the medieval era. The second group of questions is whether a robot can perform a task the same way humans can. This is beyond an AI specialist and requires a cognitive psychology science background. The third question dwells on whether a futuristic supercomputer could perform a particular task like a human being. Then it can be said to possess some human features such as freedom of will, creativity, emotion, sensation, feeling, consciousness, and thought (Lycan 176).

            Taking a futuristic approach, a robot in humanoid form can perform the following tasks show envy, prove mathematical theorems, make love, control nervousness, write...