There are actually two separate but related versions of the fallacy. The first is “the only way a machine will ever be able to do X is if it reaches a level of general intelligence close to a human’s.” The second, “if we can make a machine that can do X as well as a human, we will have figured out something very profound about the nature of intelligence.” This romanticizing and anthropomorphizing of machine intelligence is natural. It’s logical to look at available models when building something, and what better model for intelligence than the human mind? But time and again, attempts to make
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