This blog post isn’t about ChatGPT. It isn’t about machine learning, neural nets, or any mysterious or border-line spiritual form of computing. That’s a whole ’nother set of philosophical and metaphysical conundrums (conundra?).
This is about a way people sometimes speak, informally, about bog-standard boring non-AI computers and computer programs. You’ve probably heard people speak this way. You’ve probably spoken this way sometimes yourself:
- “The server thinks your password is wrong.”
- “The computer thinks you’ve lost the connection.”
- “The phone thinks you want to use your headphones. It’s wrong though.”
We normally interpret this as a metaphor, but I’m not sure it is. Is the phone “thinking” you want to use your headphones rather than your car speaker substantially different from us “thinking” our friend would rather get a phone call than a text message?