Are machines able to have knowledge?
For a machine to have knowledge, it looks like it has to be able to have beliefs, since when you know something you also believe it (though not conversely). And for a machine to have beliefs, it has to be able to form representations of how the world might be. So the answer to your question will depend in part on whether machines can form representations. This is a hotly debated question in the philosophy of mind, for the case where the machines in question are computers. The two most famous arguments are due to Alan Turing and to John Searle. Turing argued that there could be a computer that is able to engage in an extended intelligent conversation (by email perhaps) so good that it fools people into thinking it is a person, and that such a computer ought to be taken to have representational states. Searle argued that since we know how computers (traditional ones, anyway) actually create their end of the conversation, and that this involves only registering the electronic equivalent of the...
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