Machine Cognition and the Downloading of Scientific Intellect

This article concerns itself with what artificial intelligence (AI) may have in store for how science will be conducted and communicated in the not too distant future. It highlights some of the AI literature to show that computers have been successfully programmed to perform many of the procedures involved in scientific decision making and problem solving. It briefly reviews the ongoing debate over whether systems designed to exhibit intelligent behavior really think in the same sense that humans do. Finally, it reports on the possibility that more of the process of science will in the future be carried out by such systems as a result of research linking AI with progress in cognitive science.