AI Artificial Intelligence Learning and Reading Human Symbols Part 2

Last time we talked about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the difficulty it has with recognizing the significance and meaning of symbols. We provided a rough outline of some of those difficulties AI has in this area and how it is the chief obstacle to making truly intelligent machines, as opposed to making machines that are good at the one or two things they are designed for. In the next few pieces, well be going deeper, exploring the many kinds of symbols and how people take their recognition and use for granted, rarely fully appreciating all the complex processes involved in doing so. Lets begin with language. Any language is a series of sounds and, or written words, each of which is a symbol that stands for a thing, action or concept. Even just that first fact, that languages are usually both spoken and written hints at a great deal of complexity involved. If we are fluent in a given language, we easily can hear a series of sounds and understand the written words that would correspond to them. We