Artiicial Intelligence

·13· Can machines think?

Pre-reading
Using the following questionnaire, interview your classmates, colleagues, family,
and friends.

Questionnaire A B C
What is the most important machine to you?
a. A computer
b. A cell phone
c. A car
d. Other (specify: )
What machine could you live without?
a. A washing machine
b. A television
c. A microwave
d. Other (specify: )
How many hours a day do you use a computer?
a. Under 2
b. 2 to 4
c. 4 to 6
d. More than 6
What electronic devices besides a computer
and cell phone do you use on a regular basis?
Have you ever seen or used a robot? Yes | No
If “yes,” what did the robot do?
What kind of robot would you like to have?
a. A house cleaner
b. A chess player
c. An animal
d. Other (specify: )

174
Predicting content
Considering the title of the chapter, predict which of the following topics will be mentioned
in the reading text.
□ What Artiicial Intelligence means

□ Who developed the irst robots

□ How robots are built

□ How much robots cost to make

□ What robots are used for

Reading text
1 Nowadays, we use so many machines that life is unimaginable without them. Because of
machines, we can travel farther and faster. We can access and process greater quantities of infor-
mation at ever-increasing speeds. We can perform dangerous and complicated tasks more safely,
eiciently, and precisely. In our homes, schools, hospitals, factories, stores, and oices, there are
machines from the simplest gadgets to the most sophisticated electronic systems. In fact, we
would have to travel very far indeed to ind a place on this earth where we wouldn’t encounter a
machine of some kind.
2 he invention of machines and their widespread adoption have transformed human soci-
ety. Simple tools fashioned from wood or stone allowed early humans to conquer their environ-
ment and improve their chances of survival. Ten thousand years ago, the irst crude hand plow led
to the agricultural revolution, followed approximately 15 centuries later by the wheel, which
evolved over time into animal-drawn carts and farm implements. Beginning with the steam
engine in 1705, the Industrial Revolution brought about massive economic and social changes
that continued into the twentieth century. With the train and automobile came increasing urban-
ization and mobility, and the telegraph—and later the telephone, radio, and television—enabled
people to communicate over long distances.
3 Technological progress that had been thousands of years in the making accelerated rapidly
with the advent of the electronic computer in 1941. Eight years later, the stored-program com-
puter vastly improved programming procedures. As computer science took of in universities,
far-fetched ideas that had once belonged to the realm of science iction became realities. One such
idea was to build mechanical creatures that could think and act independently. Ater World War
II, English mathematician Alan Turing worked on programming intelligent machines, but it was
American visionary and computer scientist John McCarthy who coined the term artiicial intel-
ligence (AI) in 1956 at an international conference that paved the way for future research.
4 he idea of mechanical men has fascinated thinkers and inventors for centuries. In the early
1600s, Renaissance genius and painter Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical humanoid robot,
which was never built due to the technical limitations of the time. Elaborate mechanical toys and
sophisticated creatures, such as a mechanical body that could write and draw, were constructed
in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but such inventions, as amazing as they
were, ended up in various museums as objects of curiosity. he idea of mechanical men, or robots,1
surfaced in a play written in 1921 by a Czech playwright about a mad scientist who creates artii-
cial men to do manual labor. Ater they are bought by nations at war, the robots end up wiping
out humanity and taking over the world. he theme of crazed, uncontrollable killing machines
bent on their creators’ destruction continued in the science-iction novels and movies of the
1950s.

1 Robot comes from the Czech word robota, meaning hard work or drudgery.

Artiicial Intelligence: Can machines think? 175

 5 In the meantime, with cheaper, faster computer technology at their disposal, scientists could
take up the quest for autonomous machines that philosophers and mathematicians could only
imagine a century earlier. In the 1940s, American-born British neurophysiologist W. Grey Walter
constructed some of the irst autonomous electronic robots at the Burden Neurological Institute.
he size of a shoebox, these tortoiselike robots could move about on three wheels and respond to
a light source. Later models contained relex circuits, which Walter used to condition them to lee
or display simple behavior at the sound of whistles.
6 In the late 1960s, microprocessors radically reduced the size of computers, making it possi-
ble to build mobile robots with an onboard “brain” linked to a mainframe computer. At Stanford
Research Institute in California, a team of researchers programmed a small adult-sized robot
named Shakey to sense colored blocks and wedges with an onboard camera and to push them
around a carefully constructed set of rooms. As part of NASA’s Apollo program to land a man on
the moon, scientists at Stanford University built a four-wheeled vehicle to test the moon’s surface.
he Stanford Cart never made it to the moon, but at the Stanford Artiicial Intelligence Labora-
tory (SAIL), where the irst video game, electric robot arms, and computer-generated music were
also produced, graduate students under John McCarthy’s supervision tried to make the Cart into
an automatically driven automobile. Although the Cart could sense what was in front of it, follow
a white line and eventually compute the best path to its goal, it functioned poorly in an uncon-
trolled environment.
7 Real progress with robots was made in the ield of manufacturing. he irst industrial robot,
the Unimate, was a hydraulically powered arm that transported and welded die castings on auto-
mobiles. Soon to become standard equipment on car manufacturing assembly lines, the robotic
arm eliminated human error, reduced costs, and automated production. Research labs such as
SAIL also became involved in working on electrically powered arms with more humanlike joints.
As companies, particularly those in Japan, developed the technology, these arms evolved into
programmable universal manipulation arm (PUMA) robots, the most pervasive electric arms
used in mass production. Ideally suited to replace human workers in dangerous and dirty indus-
trial environments, advanced robotic systems and custom-built robots perform repetitive jobs
around the clock that require a high degree of precision and lawlessness.
8 Remote-controlled robots are also indispensable in space and underwater exploration, mili-
tary reconnaissance, and search-and-rescue operations. Robotic probes such as the Pioneer and,
later, the Voyager series have been used since the early days of space exploration to gather infor-
mation and radio data back to Earth. Mobile robots with insectlike appendages can investigate
the craters of active volcanoes and survey ocean loors. Autonomous underwater vehicles can
patrol extreme ocean depths, relay video and sonar pictures to the surface, and carry out delicate
jobs such as adjusting valves on underwater oil pipelines. Police and military forces employ
joystick-controlled demolition robots to defuse bombs and clear mine ields. In nuclear power
plants, where accidents can produce life-threatening levels of radiation, robots can enter unsafe
areas and help scientists assess the damage. When mines or buildings collapse, as happened dur-
ing the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, robots are sent in to locate trapped people.
9 From manufacturing and exploration, robots have begun making their way into our per-
sonal lives. Finely tuned medical robots can perform delicate operations, such as heart and eye
surgery, with greater precision and control than a surgeon’s hand. As these devices become smaller
and more sophisticated, their use will make many medical procedures less invasive and risky to
patients. Components originally designed for robotic joints and limbs can be incorporated into
bionic prosthetics that will eventually restore normal function to disabled people. Already, there
are loor-cleaning robots on the market, but so far their limited ability to navigate around the
house and do a thorough job has made them more of an amusing luxury. At the rate technology
is developing, robots could quite conceivably relieve us of many chores in eldercare facilities and
hospitals, as well as in our homes.

176 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

10 Despite the amazing accomplishments in robotics, the ultimate goal still remains the cre-
ation of an independently thinking humanoid robot—in other words, a machine made in man’s
image. In the 1970s in Japan, Professor Hirokazu Kato built Wabot-1, a robot that walked on two
legs, grasped simple objects with both hands, and was capable of basic speech interaction. A later
and more lifelike version, Wabot-2, was equipped with a TV camera for a head and could sight-
read and play music while it sat on a piano bench. In 1997, Honda introduced the remote-
controlled P2, followed by the P3 in 1998, which resembled a human being in a space suit, carried
a battery backpack, and walked and climbed stairs. In 2001, Honda introduced Asimo, a child-
sized humanoid that could walk, reach, grasp, talk to people, and understand simple commands.
Built for amusement parks, Asimo remained a remote-controlled puppet rather than a truly
autonomous creature.
11 Although research into humanoid robots has exploded around the world, the inal product
is far from reach. Walking comes naturally to human beings, but coordinated, elegant movement
is not nearly as simple for a robot, whose vision system and brain cannot collect and process
information in the same complex way that humans can. Balance is another problem, one that
humans master because of their delicately constructed inner ear. Vision systems equipped with a
video camera can distinguish colors, but cannot tell the diference between a baseball and an
orange. To demonstrate real intelligence, a robot’s computer brain would have to contain gargan-
tuan databases and operate like the human nervous system. An advanced ability called parallel
processing enables robotic systems to break down complex problems according to patterns of
logic, and it is already being used in AI systems that update light information at airports or pre-
approve mortgage applications online. Scientists are working on neural network programs for
robots, and should they succeed, robots of the future may be able to learn from experience and
generate creative thought.
12 While it is possible to construct a robot with a human form and one that can even commu-
nicate and mimic human behavior, the creation of a truly sentient, intelligent, and autonomous
machine is another story. Despite numerous advancements, it has not been possible to create
from silicon, metal, and tissue a machine that can reproduce itself, feel emotions and empathy,
survive on its own instincts, understand the consequences of its actions, or operate with the same
level of purpose or understanding that humans exhibit. A machine is still a machine, and in the
inal analysis, a machine lacks the spark of life.
13 On the other hand, there is a movement of extropians, those who believe that human life can
be extended by downloading consciousness into computers or robots. Although this may be pos-
sible in principle, the value of living forever inside a machine seems questionable, if not ridicu-
lous. Conceivably, however, humans and machines could merge in the future like the cyborgs of
science iction, as robotic components are integrated into our bodies for medical purposes or as
a means of enhancing our abilities to see, hear, and move. In any case, machines and robots will
likely assume a greater, rather than a lesser, role in our lives. he question is, Will we humans still
control machines, or will machines eventually control us?

After reading
In the Pre-reading section, check to see if your predictions about the reading text were correct.

Artiicial Intelligence: Can machines think? 177

 Vocabulary
EXERCISE

13 · 1
Thematic vocabulary List 10 words or phrases related to machines.

EXERCISE

13 · 2
Academic vocabulary Using a dictionary, complete the following chart with the
correct forms and deinitions of the academic words from the reading text. If a word has
multiple meanings, match the deinition to the context in which the word is used in the
text.

Noun Adjective Verb Deinition

1. access
2. adjust
3. automate
4. collapse
5. compute
6. construct
7. X involve
8. transform
9. labor
10. approximate(ly)
11. conceivable
(conceivably)
12. mechanical
13. X assess
14. X assume
15. X enable
16. X exhibit
17. component X

178 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

 Noun Adjective Verb Deinition
18. logic X
19. eventual(ly) X
20. X survey

EXERCISE

13 · 3
Using vocabulary Complete each of the following sentences with the appropriate
word from the chart in Exercise 13-2. Be sure to use the correct form of each verb and
to pluralize nouns, if necessary.

1. Computers us to process and store a large amount of information.

2. The new subway line operates without drivers and is completely .
3. A monitor is just one of a computer system.
4. Learning a second language a lot of time and efort.
5. Is it that one day ordinary people will be able to travel into outer
space and visit Mars?
6. It is illegal to steal people’s personal data and their identity.
7. If you try hard enough, you will ind a job.
8. Under the inluence of alcohol or drugs, people abnormal and
sometimes aggressive behavior.
9. Men are usually better at skills than women.
10. The damage from the storm was at $1.6 billion.
11. Before divers went down to explore the sunken ship, a robotic device was used
to the wreck and the terrain.
12. Would you like to have a robot that did most of the household ?
13. To solve this mathematical problem, you have to use and reason.
14. If buildings are not seismically upgraded, there is a danger that they will
during an earthquake.
15. After the long dry period, the rain the gardens into an abundance
of lowers.
16. Your plane will be ready for boarding in 30 minutes.
17. Due to an error in the program, the igures we entered did not .
18. You cannot your Facebook account without a valid password.
19. You may have to your seatbelt so that it its tightly.
20. Do you know how long ago the Parliament buildings were ?

Artiicial Intelligence: Can machines think? 179

 EXERCISE

13 · 4
Nonacademic vocabulary Match each nonacademic word in column 1 with its
deinition in column 2. Then, indicate each item’s part of speech (n., v., or adj.).

1. adoption a. hold something irmly

b. combine into a whole
2. artiicial c. spreading widely
3. autonomous d. made as a copy of something natural
e. be similar to someone or something
4. grasp f. absolutely necessary
5. indispensable g. function or do something
h. use or putting into efect
6. merge i. take on the appearance of someone or something
j. self-governing or independent
7. mimic
8. perform
9. pervasive
10. resemble

Reading comprehension
EXERCISE

13 · 5
Reading for main ideas Write the topic sentence of each of the paragraphs of the
reading text. The topic sentence of paragraph 1 has been provided.

Paragraph 1 Nowadays, we use so many machines that life is unimaginable

without them.
Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

Paragraph 4

Paragraph 5

Paragraph 6

Paragraph 7

180 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

Paragraph 8

Paragraph 9

Paragraph 10

Paragraph 11

Paragraph 12

Paragraph 13

EXERCISE

13 · 6
Reading for details For each of the following sentences, choose the correct answer
to ill in the blank.

1. The led to the Industrial Revolution.

a. wheel
b. steam engine
c. plow
2. Mathematicians and computer scientists began working on artiicial intelligence
.
a. after World War I
b. after World War II
c. during the Industrial Revolution
3. The term artiicial intelligence was irst used by .
a. Leonardo da Vinci
b. Alan Turing
c. John McCarthy
4. The irst adult-sized robot was developed at .
a. the Stanford Research Institute
b. the Burden Neurological Institute
c. NASA
5. The Unimate was used in .
a. space exploration
b. medical surgery
c. manufacturing

Artiicial Intelligence: Can machines think? 181

 6. In 2001, Honda introduced a humanoid robot called .
a. Asimo
b. Shakey
c. Wabot

Indicate which of the following statements are true (T) and which are false (F).

7. The Industrial Revolution mechanized manufacturing.

8. The irst robots were built and used as soldiers in Czechoslovakia.
9. Robots cannot understand the consequences of their actions.
10. Robots are able to walk, run, and climb stairs like humans.
11. Floor-cleaning robots have been commercially successful and popular.
12. Robotic systems can analyze problems logically.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

13. What is the origin of the word robot, and where was it irst used?

14. How did the invention of microprocessors lead to the development of robots?

15. Give ive reasons why robots have become such an integral component of car
manufacturing.

16. In what dangerous situations are robots indispensable?

17. What important functions are robots not able to perform in the way that humans can?

182 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

 EXERCISE

13 · 7
Reading for interpretation and inference Indicate which of the following
statements about robots are positive (+) and which are negative (−).

1. “The theme of crazed, uncontrollable killing machines bent on their creators’

destruction continued in the science-iction novels and movies of the 1950s.”
2. “. . . such inventions, as amazing as they were, ended up in various museums as
objects of curiosity.”
3. “Although the Cart could sense what was in front of it, follow a white line and
eventually compute the best path to its goal, it functioned poorly in an uncontrolled
environment.”
4. “. . . advanced robotic systems and custom-built robots perform repetitive jobs
around the clock that require a high degree of precision and lawlessness.”
5. “Built for amusement parks, Asimo remained a remote-controlled puppet rather than
a truly autonomous creature.”
6. “Vision systems equipped with a video camera can distinguish colors, but cannot tell
the diference between a baseball and an orange.”
7. “A machine is still a machine, and in the inal analysis, a machine lacks the spark
of life.”
8. “. . . humans and machines could merge in the future like the cyborgs of science
iction, as robotic components are integrated into our bodies for medical purposes
or as a means of enhancing our abilities to see, hear, and move.”

Reading strategies
Summarizing
EXERCISE

13 · 8
Summarizing Condense and summarize each of the following passages from the
reading text, using techniques covered in Chapters 6 through 12.

1. “Beginning with the steam engine in 1705, the Industrial Revolution brought about massive
economic and social changes that continued into the twentieth century. With the train and
automobile came increasing urbanization and mobility, and the telegraph—and later the
telephone, radio, and television—enabled people to communicate over long distances.”

Artiicial Intelligence: Can machines think? 183

 2. “Elaborate mechanical toys and sophisticated creatures, such as a mechanical body
that could write and draw, were constructed in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, but such inventions, as amazing as they were, ended up in various museums
as objects of curiosity.”

3. “After World War II, English mathematician Alan Turing worked on programming intelligent
machines, but it was American visionary and computer scientist John McCarthy who coined
the term artiicial intelligence (AI) in 1956 at an international conference that paved the way
for future research.”

4. “In the 1940s, British neurophysiologist W. Grey Walter constructed some of the irst
autonomous electronic robots at the Burden Neurological Institute. The size of a shoebox,
these tortoiselike robots could move about on three wheels and respond to a light source.
Later models contained relex circuits, which Walter used to condition them to lee or
display simple behavior at the sound of whistles.”

5. “As part of NASA’s Apollo program to land a man on the moon, scientists at Stanford
University built a four-wheeled vehicle to test the moon’s surface. The Stanford Cart never
made it to the moon, but at the Stanford Artiicial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL), where the
irst video game, electric robot arms, and computer-generated music were also produced,
graduate students under John McCarthy’s supervision tried to make the Cart into an
automatically driven automobile. Although the Cart could sense what was in front of it,
follow a white line and eventually compute the best path to its goal, it functioned poorly
in an uncontrolled environment.”

6. “As companies, particularly those in Japan, developed the technology, these arms evolved
into programmable universal manipulation arm (PUMA) robots, the most pervasive electric
arms used in mass production. Ideally suited to replace human workers in dangerous and
dirty industrial environments, advanced robotic systems and custom-built robots perform
repetitive jobs around the clock that require a high degree of precision and lawlessness.”

184 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

 7. “In the 1970s in Japan, Professor Hirokazu Kato built Wabot-1, a robot that walked on two
legs, grasped simple objects with both hands, and was capable of basic speech interaction.
A later and more lifelike version, Wabot-2, was equipped with a TV camera for a head and
could sight-read and play music while it sat on a piano bench. In 1997, Honda introduced
the remote-controlled P2, followed by the P3 in 1998, which resembled a human being
in a space suit, carried a battery backpack, and walked and climbed stairs. In 2001, Honda
introduced Asimo, a child-sized humanoid that could walk, reach, grasp, talk to people,
and understand simple commands. Built for amusement parks, Asimo remained a remote-
controlled puppet rather than a truly autonomous creature.”

8. “Walking comes naturally to human beings, but coordinated, elegant movement is not
nearly as simple for a robot, whose vision system and brain cannot collect and process
information in the same complex way that humans can. Balance is another problem, one
that humans master because of their delicately constructed inner ear. Vision systems
equipped with a video camera can distinguish colors, but cannot tell the diference between
a baseball and an orange. To demonstrate real intelligence, a robot’s computer brain would
have to contain gargantuan databases and operate like the human nervous system.”

Organizing information
Scan the reading text for details that support the main ideas in the following chart, then enter
the information in the chart. Don’t copy directly from the text; use your own words as much
as possible.
Main ideas Important details
The development of robots and
Artiicial Intelligence

The use of robots in manufacturing

The use of robots in dangerous

situations

Artiicial Intelligence: Can machines think? 185

 Main ideas Important details
Medical and personal uses of robots

The development of humanoid robots

Problems and obstacles

The future of robots

Critical thinking
EXERCISE

13 · 9
Making evaluations Indicate which of the following would be useful and feasible
(✓) in the future and which would not (X). Give reasons to support your answers.

1. Robotic babysitters
2. Robotic gardeners
3. Robotic surgeons
4. Robotic dog walkers
5. Robotic housekeepers
6. Robotic short-order cooks
7. Robotic agents at airport information counters
8. Robotic tour guides in museums

186 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

 EXERCISE

13 · 10
Making a case Do you think that it will be possible in the future to create
superhuman people who are part human and part robot? What would be the
advantages and disadvantages of such superhuman people? Are there dangers
or ethical considerations? Give reasons to support your opinions.

Bibliography
Brooks, Rodney A., Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us (New York: Pantheon Books,
2002).
Fritz, Sandy, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (North Mankato, MN: Byron Preiss Publications,
2003).
“An Introduction to the Science of Artiicial Intelligence” (Oracle hinkQuest Education Founda-
tion), http://library.thinkquest.org/2705/.
McCarthy, John, “What Is Artiicial Intelligence?” (Stanford University, 2007), http://www
-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/whatisai.html.

Artiicial Intelligence: Can machines think? 187