How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed

by Ray Kurzweil

If the universe is a giant cellular automaton, as Dr. Wolfram postulates, there would be no computer big enough—since every computer would be a subset of the universe—that could run such a simulation. Therefore the future state of the universe is completely unknowable even though it is deterministic. Thus even though our decisions are determined (because our bodies and brains are part of a deterministic universe), they are nonetheless inherently unpredictable because we live in (and are part of) a class IV automaton. We cannot predict the future of a class IV automaton except to let the future unfold. For Dr. Wolfram, this is sufficient to allow for free will. We don’t have to look to the universe to see future events that are determined yet unpredictable. None of the scientists who have worked on Watson can predict what it will do, because the program is just too complex and varied, and its performance is based on knowledge that is far too extensive for any human to master. If we believe that humans exhibit free will, then it follows that we have to allow that future versions of Watson or Watson-like machines can exhibit it also.