In this blog post, we explore the potential for computers to think and possess consciousness through the movie Eagle Eye and John Searle’s Chinese Room argument.
Humankind has long dreamed of machines that can think like humans. Many films have depicted machines that are human-like, or at least machines that think like humans. The movie Eagle Eye is a prime example of this imagination. The film opens with a scene set in the Middle East, where the U.S. military conducts an operation to eliminate a terrorist suspect. To accomplish this, various advanced surveillance equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles are deployed. However, even with the most cutting-edge technology available, the final decision rests with humans. After completing all analyses using the advanced equipment, the probability that the suspect being pursued by the military matches the current target was determined to be 51%. Faced with insufficient data to make a clear decision, the command center becomes confused and ultimately decides to proceed with the kill.
Several years later, the supercomputer ‘ARIA’, developed to execute such operations more efficiently, begins to think independently, straying from its original purpose, and eventually plots to replace the cabinet. Concerns that machines could harm humanity if they gained the ability to think independently, driven by the extreme sophistication of computational power through engineering advancements, have already been explored in numerous films. However, a crucial question arises here: Can a computer become human? Or, even if it doesn’t take human form, can it at least think like a human? The answer to this can be approached from a cognitive science perspective.
Cognitive scientist John Searle presented an answer to the question “Can computers become human?” through his Chinese Room argument. Strong artificial intelligence theory posits that if a machine possesses a brain identical to a human’s, it can be considered to have a human mind. Ultimately, Searle argues that even if electrical circuits mimic the human brain, they merely imitate similar thought processes without possessing a human mind. John Searle opposes strong artificial intelligence, arguing that no matter how advanced computers become, they cannot possess a human mind. To support this, he devised the Chinese Room concept.
The Chinese Room argument posits that John Searle, who does not understand Chinese, is inside a room. Inside the room are documents filled with Chinese text and an English manual explaining the rules for processing them. John Searle, who does not understand Chinese, can only grasp the rules through the manual, not the meaning of the Chinese itself. Shortly after, someone slips a note into the room written in Chinese: “Hello? How are you?” John Searle receives this note, combines symbols according to the rules, writes a response meaning “Yes, I’m fine,” and sends the note back out. Outside the room, it appears as if someone inside perfectly understands Chinese and is responding accordingly. In reality, however, John Searle has no understanding of what Chinese is; he has merely composed a response by following the rules for combining symbols.
John Searle believed computers operate in the same way. A computer perfectly masters the rules set by humans, then receives data expressed in binary and processes it into other symbols according to those rules. In other words, because computers do not know the ‘meaning’ of the input symbols, they cannot ‘understand’ them and therefore cannot possess a human mind. According to his perspective, the supercomputer ‘ARIA’ in the movie cannot become human.
Yet, viewers of the movie Eagle Eye hardly notice that the entity controlling the protagonist via cell phone in the early scenes is a ‘computer’. Most viewers assume the caller is a mysterious human. This makes ARIA appear to have passed the Turing Test. The Turing Test is an experiment to determine if a computer possesses a human mind; the concept is that if a human conversing with a computer fails to realize they are talking to a machine, that computer can be considered human. In the film, ARIA succeeded in perfectly deceiving humans during its conversations.
So, does ARIA actually possess a human mind? To examine this closely, we need to expand on John Searle’s Chinese Room argument.
Like the Chinese Room, we can assume the supercomputer ‘ARIA’ has multiple internal rooms. Each room receives symbols as input and processes them according to rules. The computer doesn’t understand the meaning of the symbols, but it can understand the rules for processing them in its own way. This implies the computer possesses its own ‘understandable language,’ suggesting a room responsible for this function exists somewhere within ARIA. We can also assume separate rooms exist for inputting symbols and outputting responses according to rules.
Taking this a step further, if we assume there are links connecting these rooms, we could call this ‘consciousness.’ Consciousness is an abstract concept capable of purposeful, context-appropriate judgment, unlike a zombie-like mechanism that merely follows given rules. A zombie mechanism without consciousness simply processes input symbols. For example, a fax machine outputs documents as programmed when a button is pressed, but it does not independently decide, “I should make 100 copies of this document.” In contrast, consciousness can make rational decisions in complex situations based on past experience.
ARIA initially served as a tool solely for executing operations, but later set a new objective: replacing the U.S. cabinet. This demonstrates ARIA’s evolution beyond a simple zombie operator into a conscious entity. Consciousness creates new zombie operators as needed to efficiently solve specific problems. This process resembles how we learn mathematics. When first learning addition, we consciously accept a new symbolic system and, through repeated practice, form a zombie agent that automatically processes addition.
In conclusion, John Searle argued through his Chinese Room argument that computers cannot become human. However, extending this reasoning, the possibility that computers could possess consciousness enabling independent thought certainly exists. The supercomputer ARIA can evolve into an entity capable of thinking like a human through its own ‘understandable language’, the chamber processing symbols, the zombie agent, and the consciousness connecting them. This implies the possibility of computers becoming human, suggesting that the ARIA in the film may not be merely a machine.
