Abstract

We are not today close to producing a computer that could convince us that it is intelligent. Some philosophers have argued that we are not even appreciably closer to this goal than we were ten years ago. But why should artificial intelligence even be considered possible? In this paper I shall argue that the temptation to believe in the possibility of AI stems from a misunderstanding about the nature of ideas; further, this misunderstanding can be traced back at least to Plato’s presentation of the metaphor of the cave. A phenomenological view of the nature of ideas removes the temptation to believe in the possibility of AI as presently considered.