Someone asked me once, “What do computers think?”  I didn’t have a readily available answer for them.  I know my own computer has a lot of thoughts.  It wonders whether or not I like it, for one thing.  My computer also lets me know if I’m pushing it too hard or expecting more out of it than it is prepared to provide.  For instance, sometimes, when I have a whole bunch of windows open at the same time, my computer purposely reacts slowly to everything.  Sometimes, my computer gets so annoyed at me that it fails to even acknowledge that I’ve clicked the mouse button.  It especially dislikes this when I click multiple times while waiting for it to respond to my first clicks.

This still doesn’t answer the question about what computers think.  Like us, they have electrical impulses that help them think.  Even though they can only think in zeros and ones, it doesn’t mean that the end result of their thinking is so narrowly defined.  For instance, my computer, or at least the software that my computer uses to do things, can tell me what time an appointment is and whether or not I am late for it.  Since I’m not able to readily read zeros and ones (I’m not that strange), the computer has to interpret this for me.  So, the end results are a lot more than just zeros and ones.

The only answer available, given human limitations, is that computers think in ways that humans are not yet, and may not ever, be able to understand.  I do not know if thinking about this too much will make humans reluctant to use computers.  What if the computers do not like being used?

~ Bob Zaboo