VOA慢速英语20060801b

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Human Brain Still Leads, as Science Looks to Next 50 Years of Artificial IntelligenceBy Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Tuesday, August 01, 2006

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty².

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Pat Bodnar. This week -- thinking about artificial intelligence ...

VOICE ONE:

And technology that uses thought to control movement could offer hope to people with spinal³ cord injuries.

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VOICE ONE:


The animated⁴ face of a robot designed at Carnegie Mellon University for an artificial intelligence competition

Artificial intelligence is technology designed to perform jobs that require higher-level thinking skills. In other words, skills like those of human intelligence.

A.l. systems have many different uses. They are used in economics, to study things like stock market activity. They are used in medicine -- for example, to help doctors recognize disorders⁵ and choose the best treatments. And they are used in the military, to develop systems like self-guiding vehicles and so-called smart bombs that look for their targets.

Robotic systems with artificial intelligence can perform many industrial duties. These robots can also help doctors operate on patients. They can even pilot spacecraft.

VOICE TWO:

In the summer of nineteen fifty-six, a small group of scientists gathered in Hanover, New Hampshire. They discussed how to create computer programs and machines that could think the way humans do. The conference was proposed as a two-month study. It was called the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence.

The idea of intelligent machines is ancient. But the name of the Dartmouth project marked the first known use of the term artificial intelligence. So says the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.

Dartmouth College just marked the fiftieth anniversary of that summer study. In July the school held a conference called AI@50 to explore the next fifty years in artificial intelligence. Organizers say about one hundred seventy-five people attended the three-day event.

Young graduate students got to meet the two men often called the fathers of artificial intelligence: Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy. Fifty years ago, Mister Minsky was a junior fellow at Harvard University. Mister McCarthy was a professor of mathematics at Dartmouth. These two researchers, and two others, wrote a proposal for the summer research project. Mister McCarthy is the one credited for the name artificial intelligence.

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VOICE ONE:

The organizers of the nineteen fifty-six conference based it on a theory. The idea was that every part of human intelligence could be described in such detail that a machine could be made to copy it.

James Moor⁶ is a philosophy professor at Dartmouth. He directed the AI@50 conference last month. Professor Moor says it is true that computers are being built that operate in some ways like the brain. These are known as neural⁷ net computers. But, he adds, machines are unlikely to fully⁸ capture all human emotions, feelings and creativity -- at least not anytime soon.

The professor says computers may never replace humans, but humans should expect to find more and more smart machines. These devices could someday even be implanted in the body.

Research into artificial intelligence includes areas like learning, reasoning and action. The work brings together people from many different areas of expertise⁹.

Yet progress with artificial intelligence has been slower than those scientists fifty years ago had hoped. For example, Professor Moor notes the continued difficulty to train computers to use and translate language. Using language correctly requires a knowledge of countless¹⁰ social and cultural situations and conditions.

So language is an area where humans can still consider themselves smarter than machines.

VOICE TWO:

Carey Heckman teaches in the philosophy and computer science departments at Dartmouth. He notes that artificial intelligence plays an important part in national security and anti-terrorism programs. For example, A.I. systems are used in collecting communications and recognizing faces in a crowd.

Uses like these incite¹¹ debate about issues like government spying and loss of privacy. Artificial intelligence is not just fertile ground for science fiction writers. There are social and economic issues to consider as the technology spreads. Even just the idea of trying to get computers to think like humans is enough to frighten some people.

At the same time, A.I. research involves philosophical¹² questions about intelligence and the mind. These questions relate to how humans work and think. Carey Heckman at Dartmouth says the more scientists learn about artificial intelligence, the more we learn about ourselves.

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VOICE ONE:

You are listening to SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Scientists and engineers have created all kinds of technology to make people's lives easier. This is true for disabled people as well. But what about those with severe spinal-cord injuries, who cannot move their arms or legs? A new device could make their lives easier, too. This may not be an example of artificial intelligence, but it is an example of what human intelligence can do with technology.

A report last month in Nature magazine described a study by a team led by researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island.

VOICE TWO:


Matthew Nagle, with a BrainGate sensor¹³ in his head, is assisted by Abraham Caplan of Cyberkinetics, the maker¹⁴

For nine months, the researchers followed a twenty-five-year-old disabled man as he learned to move objects simply with thought. This ability was made possible by a small electronic device in his brain. The device is a neuromotor prosthesis called BrainGate. It measures four millimeters by four millimeters.

The BrainGate device acts as a brain-to-movement system. Doctors inserted it into the motor cortex, a part of the brain involved in controlling movements.

The man had suffered a spinal cord injury three years earlier. But the researchers found that nerve activity continued in his motor cortex. The team had not known for sure if movement signals would still be sent in this part of his brain.

The patient was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a knife wound that cut his spinal cord. But with the BrainGate system, he was able to guide a computer cursor and control objects on the screen. He could open e-mail and play Neural Pong, a simple video game.

The patient could also operate a television. He was able to perform these actions while speaking at the same time. He was even able to pick up small objects with a robotic arm.

VOICE ONE:

Nerve activity recorded by the BrainGate sensor is processed into movement commands. The system used in the study includes wires attached to the skull¹⁵. These wires pass through the skin to carry nerve signals to computers and other equipment to process them.

After the report was written, the scientists added a second patient with spinal cord injury to the study, a man fifty-five years old.

Research with neuromotor prosthetics has also been done with monkeys.

Experts say the BrainGate system marks a big improvement in what is known as brain-computer interface¹⁶ technology.

Scientists say the device could one day control a wheelchair or prosthetic arms and legs. They say the device, if combined with a muscle movement system, might even return the use of paralyzed limbs.

But a lot more work is needed before any of this might be possible.

VOICE TWO:

A company called Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems created the BrainGate device. Professors and students at Brown University formed Cyberkinetics in two thousand one. They based their work on research developed in the laboratory of neuroscientist John Donoghue. The government paid for much of the research.

Professor Donoghue has been working on the BrainGate technology for more than ten years. He is chief scientific officer at Cyberkinetics and helped lead the study published in Nature.

In a related paper, researchers at Stanford University say the device produces an even faster reaction when placed in a different area in the brain. They say it could someday be possible to communicate information at a rate equal to typing fifteen words per minute on a computer.

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VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jill Moss and produced by Brianna Blake. Transcripts¹⁷ and archives of our shows are at www.unsv.com. I'm Pat Bodnar.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Our e-mail address is [email protected]. We hope you can join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

3 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

4 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

5 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

7 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

10 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

11 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。

12 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

13 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

14 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

15 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

16 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

17 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句