you have to program every output, right?

[shg]

... when two or more outputs conflict (bug/glitch), then an output that has not been exclusively programmed can occur

A buggy program is still a program, just not the one you intended. The computer, being annoyingly literal, would regard the output proudly as being precisely as programmed.

Free to choose my own definitions, I'd say a computer that shorts and catches fire is demonstrating an unprogrammed output.

if it encounters a foreign word not on that list, it can't do anything, right? <!-- / message -->

It will do whatever the hardware/software design dictates: ignore it, babble incoherently, go into an infinite loop, or catch fire.

 

[MrKowz]

It will do whatever the hardware/software design dictates: ignore it, babble incoherently, go into an infinite loop, or catch fire.

I'll be sure to omit the Application.Combust lines from my code.

 

[xld]

I'd argue the point that when two or more outputs conflict (bug/glitch), then an output that has not been exclusively programmed can occur.

It may have been programmed for, just not by the application that caused the conlict.

 

[xld]

about the bugs: they usually just cause the computer to stall, right? in any case, they certainly do something unwanted.

Not necessarily unwanted, that might be the design.

re a precise example: let's say the computer is designed such that it "knows" or can handle a finite list of 20K english words. if it encounters a foreign word not on that list, it can't do anything, right?

If you have a list of 20k words, you woud be stupid NOT to assume that you may get one that is not in that list, so you have an exceptions path. That would handle English words not in the list, Freench words, Russian words, and so on. You don't have to program for every eventuality, just be smart enough to know that you haven't and act appropriately.

 

[WaterGypsy]

When designing a computer program, you have to define all inputs, and each input has to have one output, right?

Moreover, a computer can not perform an output that it has not been programmed for, right?

I need to know this for a debate on artificial intelligence and philosophy of mind.

Taking your questions literally:

Yes you have to program for all inputs otherwise they cannot get into the machine.... an input can be anything: light, sound, bits of data down a phone line ..... the list is pretty endless.

Just because a computer accepts some input it doesn't mean that it will generate an output from that - it's a waste if it isn't output, but I guess there are conditions that are checked and no action taken unless a limit is breached, but you could argue that the decision to do nothing is an output in itself.

Can a computer produce output that hasn't been programmed? No it can't. A computer can't do anything that hasn't been programmed .... but by the same token if you write an AI system that can "decide" what to do then you have programmed the computer to do something although you don't exactly know in advance what that something will be.

Enjoy the debate .... I think you'll come out of it with more questions than answers though

 

[JamesW]

but by the same token if you write an AI system that can "decide" what to do then you have programmed the computer to do something although you don't exactly know in advance what that something will be.

Wouldn't an AI system have to be give a list of options in the first place though, and it just chooses one based on x?

By that I mean, it can't just make something up randomly?

 

[RoryA]

Moreover, a computer can not perform an output that it has not been programmed for, right?

Define "computer".

 

[Domski]

A bag of marbles.

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

Two planks of wood!

 

[WaterGypsy]

Wouldn't an AI system have to be give a list of options in the first place though, and it just chooses one based on x?

By that I mean, it can't just make something up randomly?

Excellent point .... for a computer to output something I'd imagine it would have to have a physical output device which would be limited to a certain type of output (e.g. a screen, speakers, a printer)...

... but say that AI computer had an internet connection what would there be to stop it deciding to order a piece of kit to be delivered to its location, and raising a work order for a human to come along and attach it so it could do something we hadn't programmed it to do?