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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8360072" data-attributes="member: 6796468">It's a philosophical question.Can a computer, which is only allowed a binary choice and cannot make a choice outside of those two options, be considered "Intelligent"?I'm not talking a vast and wildly varied AI with "Invisible Action" that shapes it's output. I'm talking about a simple binary "Yes/No" function.If that computer isn't intelligent neither is a creature that -cannot- make moral choices. That cannot choose to do things outside of it's programming... Which, in turn, is the big problem people have with Determinism. If the universe is set on rails (Whether by physics or a deity) and we cannot make choices is intelligence even a "Thing" or are all of our actions and apparent reactions no more meaningful than a computer running a series of programs with any apparent intelligence coming not from choices on our part but only through mechanical functions of reality independent of any input from a thinking being.For a creature to have Intelligence it must have Free Will. Otherwise it is no more sapient than the computer answering a question Yes and No, but never Maybe.And that's not even getting into the Ham sandwich of applying a moral judgement or position to an entire group of people, and then declaring it is reinforced by magic/god/laws of reality/phrenology/whatever as a Social Issue.</blockquote>