Written Assignment 2: Introduction to Philosophy
Due Friday, October 29, End of Day (Uploaded to Blackboard)
Essay Prompt: Imagine that you are asked to make a philosophical argument to lawmakers, who
are trying to decide whether they will allow scientists to invent an artificial intelligence that will
e indistinguishable from human intelligence. You may argue either in favor of this advancement
of science or against it.
How you make that argument is up to you. But one thing is required. You need to explain to the
lawmakers what you see to be the implications of the creation of a “functionally, human
equivalent” artificial intelligence for how we understand ourselves and how we understand
consciousness. In other words, what will it mean for human culture and human self-
understanding if we create an artificial intelligence whose functional behavior is outwardly
indistinguishable from human behavior?
Requirements:
1. Use arguments from the lessons about the nature of the human mind and its relation to artificial
intelligence. But you are also free to add your own arguments and views..
2. You cannot quote, cut and paste from, cite, or in any way refer to the powerpoint slides from this
class. The slides are only there to help you focus on what is important in the readings and videos.
You will be penalized and asked to rewrite a paper that heavily relies on the slides.
3. Do not use outside sources. The point of these assignments is to examine your ability to
understand and synthesize the materials from this class. Therefore, outside sources will be seen as
i
elevant.
4. You may use any citation system you like (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). I find the easiest system to
e to use a parenthetical “author-date” system for in-text citations with a works cited page. In
other words, after a direct quotation (using quotation marks), place the name of the author of the
quotation, the year of publication, and page number in parenthesis at the end of the sentence. See
the examples of quotation and paraphrase below:
a. Plato says that “present in every person’s soul” is the capacity to “contemplate reality,
and the
ightest of all realities, which we say is the Good” (Plato 1993, 119).
. Plato believes that within the soul of each person is the ability to understand the nature of
true reality, including the foundation of all things which he calls the Good (Plato 1993,
119).
5. The length requirement is 3 pages of your own words (approximately 950 with 12 point standard
font, double spacing, 1 inch margins, and no extra spacing between paragraphs). Direct
quotations will not count towards this word count. All direct quotations should be cited.
Paraphrases will count towards this word count. Paraphrases should also be cited.
Upload Instructions: Find Writing Assignment for Unit 2 in the Unit 2 folder. Click on those underlined words.
You will be taken to an “upload assignment” page, where you may either “write submission” (where can cut and
paste your essay) or attach a file. The file must be in one of the following formats: .doc, .docx, .docm, .ppt, .pptx,
.odt, .txt, .rtf, .pdf, and .htm. To attach your file press “Browse my computer” then locate the file. After attaching
it, press “submit” at the bottom of the page.