I grant that there is a sense in which we “understand” intuitive physics but will never understand quantum mechanics.
But in a similar sense, I would say that we don’t “understand” almost any of modern mathematics or computer science (or even calculus, or how to play the game of go). We reason about them using a new edifice of intuitions that we have built up over the years to deal with the situation at hands. These intuitions bear some relationship to what has come before but not one as overt as applying intuitions about “waves” to light.
As a computer scientist, I would be quick to characterize this as understanding! Moreover, even if a machine’s understanding of quantum mechanics is closer to our idea of intuitive physics (in that they were built to reason about quantum mechanics in the same way we were built to reason about intuitive physics) I’m not sure this gives them more than a quantitative advantage in the efficiency with which they can think about the topic.
I do expect them to have such advantages, but I don’t expect them to be limited to topics that are at the edge of humans’ conceptual grasp!
I think robots will have far more trouble understanding fine nuances of language, behavior, empathy, and team work. I think quantum mechanics will be easy overall. Its things like emotional intelligence that will be hard.
I grant that there is a sense in which we “understand” intuitive physics but will never understand quantum mechanics.
But in a similar sense, I would say that we don’t “understand” almost any of modern mathematics or computer science (or even calculus, or how to play the game of go). We reason about them using a new edifice of intuitions that we have built up over the years to deal with the situation at hands. These intuitions bear some relationship to what has come before but not one as overt as applying intuitions about “waves” to light.
As a computer scientist, I would be quick to characterize this as understanding! Moreover, even if a machine’s understanding of quantum mechanics is closer to our idea of intuitive physics (in that they were built to reason about quantum mechanics in the same way we were built to reason about intuitive physics) I’m not sure this gives them more than a quantitative advantage in the efficiency with which they can think about the topic.
I do expect them to have such advantages, but I don’t expect them to be limited to topics that are at the edge of humans’ conceptual grasp!
I think robots will have far more trouble understanding fine nuances of language, behavior, empathy, and team work. I think quantum mechanics will be easy overall. Its things like emotional intelligence that will be hard.