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The pool-sweep theory of intelligence. People who have large swimming pools often purchase a device called a pool-sweep, essentially a motorized float with long tentacles that sweep the bottom of a swimming pool. It has to be programmed to the shape of the pool, and then simply is left to do its work. When someone sees a pool-sweep in action for the first time, it looks very smart. It appears to go after the dirt and make its way around the pool as if it were being steered by a little man. It is indeed programmed in the sense that it has been given a set of instructions and it follows them. When we think of something as being programmed we imply that it is in some way intelligent, certainly more intelligent than something that hasn't been programmed, or that cannot be programmed. People are fooled initially by the pool-sweep, and only see it for what it is after being told that it's just programmed for one pool, and if it were placed in a different pool it wouldn't work. In a similar way, people can be fooled initially into thinking that computers are really smart of intelligent.  1, fiche 1, Anglais, - pool%2Dsweep%20theory

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