John Searle's Flesh And Machines: How Robots Will Change Us

In “Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us” Rodney A. Brooks contemplates the uniqueness of human capability in comparison to the constantly evolving world of artificial intelligence. A topic that often results from this discussion is the consciousness of these machines. This topic is also brought up in John Searle’s, “Can Computers Think?”. Searle addresses the ability of a computer to understand the reasoning behind its actions. Searle concludes that there is no way to give a computer consciousness. Additionally, Isaac Asimov’s “Catch That Rabbit” who was years ahead of his colleagues introduced the concept of consciousness in a robot. Despite what other people might I argue, I believe consciousness is the way a living being reacts

In Isaac Asimov’s short story, “Catch That Rabbit”, two scientists struggle to find the cause for a robot’s inability to follow orders. While the robot is answering questions as to why he has failed to complete his job, the robot responds, “I can’t explain that, boss. It’s been giving me a case of nerves, or it would if I let it -- my subsidiaries worked smoothly” (Asimov 49). The robot explains to the two scientists that even though he is programmed to know that in this situation a human would be nervous if they were unable to complete their job, as a robot he is incapable of feeling emotions. He doesn’t feel worried simply because he is unable to conjure this emotion into existence. Asimov subtly shows to his readers that robots simply do not have the ability or capacity to feel emotions, although he does not explain the reasoning in great detail. However, I believe that even with a robot’s superb ability to analyze and gather information and store this data, they are incapable of deciding which information is the most relevant and important when asked questions involving emotions. A robot cannot deduce why someone might feel distraught or elated. In this short story it is obvious that robots do not have a consciousness and I believe it is because they have no desire to complete a task, they just do their job simply because that is what they are told to do. Robots do not feel compelled to work harder than necessary, because to a robot, working hard and working is the same thing. Only a conscious human is able to know that working hard requires more effort and thought than simply completing a given