Automating creativity

Richard Scheines

pp. 339-365

in: James H. Fetzer (ed), Aspects of artificial intelligence, Berlin, Springer, 1988

Abstract

Critics of the very idea of artificial intelligence¹ fall into two main classes. There are those who argue that it is impossible to build a machine that truly mimics human cognitive behavior, and there are those who argue that even if a machine could mimic cognitive behavior, it would never "really" have the emotional experiences we humans do. Critics in the first class usually argue their case by pointing to a cognitive task that humans accomplish with ease but which a computer could not, even in principle, do. Because creativity is mysterious, seemingly impossible to teach, and not subject to any easily discernible set of "rules", it is a popular candidate for such a cognitive task.