Inglês AD2

LEIA O TEXTO ABAIXO E RESPONDA ÀS PERGUNTAS EM PORTUGUÊS. Will machines ever really think?
By Yvonne Raley

How long does it take you to add 3,456,732 and 2,245,678? Ten seconds? Not bad for a human! The average PC can perform this calculation in 0.000000018 second. How about your memory? Can you remember a shopping list of 10 items? Maybe 20? Compare that with 125 million items a PC can remember.
On the other hand, computers are confused by faces, which people can recognize instantly. Machines lack the creativity for new ideas and have no feelings and no fond memories of their youth. Researchers at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, Calif. recently modeled a robot - named Darwin VII – based on rat and ape brains. Darwin VII has a camera and a set of metal jaws so that it can interact with its environment and learn, the way young animals do.
The question is: If computer processing copies nature's neural networks, will cold silicon be able to think? In 1950, an era when silicon microchips did not exist, British mathematician and philosopher Alan Turing tried to consider this question.
Why does something that is so easy for people pose such hurdles for machines?
No computer can pass the Turing Test. To pass the test, computers would have to demonstrate not just one competency (in mathematics, say, or knowledge of fishing) but many competencies that human beings possess. Computers have what is called a restricted design: their programming enables them to accomplish a specific job, and they have a knowledge base that is relevant only to that task. A good example is Anna, IKEA's online virtual assistant. You can ask Anna about IKEA's products and services, but she will not be able to tell you about the weather.
(adapted from Scientific American – semester 1 2006)
Glossary: to perform=executar; novelty=novidade; jaw=maxilar/mandíbula; hurdle=obstáculo; to pose= trazer; ape=gorila; brain=cérebro; fond= agradável; youth=juventude.
1. No primeiro