Eric's Beijing Diary

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Got an email from Michelle (second from right) today. She arrived in Singapore safe and sound. Last week at our Thursday evening fellowship, we had a "going away" party for her. Michelle is a chess teacher, and she has been hired by the Chess Federation of Singapore to come there as a trainer.

I only played chess with Michelle once. It was a very short game. And every time I moved, she would say, "Eric, I don't think that move is good for you, why don't you try something else." She was so helpful, but she wasn't able to save me. She cleaned me off the board in short order.

My chess game has gotten pretty rusty, especially since I got involved with the field I am in now. When I was in the trucking industry, I carried a little Radio Shack chess computer in my truck, and I would play it when I was sitting around loading docks waiting for a load. Chess computers are good for helping you to develop your skill at opening, since computers don't waste moves, and they are not capable of making stupid mistakes. I always found that if I could hold the computer off for at least half the game, I could usually win, because chess endings require a measure of creativity, and computers are not capable of creativity. Bottom line: they don't think. I use chess computers as an example of why I do not believe in artificial intelligence.

Throughout my life as a systems trainer and professor, I have had students come to me with articles about artificial intelligence. They come to me because I am fond of saying that there is no such thing as artificial intelligence, there never has been, and there never will be. A chess computer is not an example of artificial intelligence. It is an example of virtual intelligence. I do believe in virtual intelligence. In other words, I do believe that computers can be created that perform functions generally associated with thinking people. They can "act" as if they are thinking. But computers do not think. Thinking is organic. Computer scientists can no more create a computer that thinks than a biologist can create life. Scientists know exactly what are the ingredients of a human cell, but they have never been able to create a living cell in a laboratory.

So when the subject of human beings being replaced by computers comes up, I always tell students that if their job requires them to think, they have nothing to worry about. There will always be a need for creative, thinking people in any company, any organization, any academic institution and any society. Computers can "play" chess, but there will never be able to replace the kind of creativity and abstract thinking required to coach young chess players. Michelle, you are irreplaceable, in more ways than one.