Though only covered in a short section of Chapter 10 and not traditionally thought of as “psychology”- as it is not human, artificial intelligence is an interesting concept that raises many questions of the capabilities and limits of technology.
In the movie Stealth, the Navy has created an experimental computer, called EDI, with
artificial intelligence that can fly a plane. The implied goal is for it to become the perfect pilot and to remove the factor of human-error from flying. Three pilots are selected to test out cutting edge fighters called Talons and the EDI soon joins their team. While flying missions, the EDI quickly learns the other pilot’s techniques, capabilities, limits, and personalities. It also learns that it has none of the limitations they do, as it is not human, but a machine. When flying back from a mission, the EDI is struck by lightning, which results in its circuits being changed and it to begin to completely think for itself and not follow orders. It began to make judgments on its own: choosing not to abort a mission even when the possibility for civilian casualties was high and it gave itself a mission to destroy a target in
China. After trying to destroy the EDI, losing a team member and failing, one member decides to talk the EDI back to its senses…which for some reason works-possibly because it adopted a sort of conscience while training with them, or something silly like that. Then the EDI sacrifices itself to save the two remaining team members at the North/South Korean border and everyone is happy with the cheesy ending.
Back to what matters though. Can human technology create a machine that thinks and makes judgments for itself in addition to having emotions (of a sort)? According to the two-factor and James-Lange theories of emotion, I don’t think so, as both of these theories require a physiologic response. However, a cognitive machine, that is, one possessing cognition (the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating), is not impossible for the future. Given enough data, a computer might be able to form concepts and prototypes and use them in conjunction with algorithms (the idea of a heuristic would be impractical for a computer, as it would be able to go through the process of an algorithm just as quickly). One limitation an artificial intelligence computer may fall victim to could possibly be the development of a mental set in its approach to similar problems. Only time will reveal the limits of artificial intelligence.
In the movie Stealth, the Navy has created an experimental computer, called EDI, with artificial intelligence that can fly a plane. The implied goal is for it to become the perfect pilot and to remove the factor of human-error from flying. Three pilots are selected to test out cutting edge fighters called Talons and the EDI soon joins their team. While flying missions, the EDI quickly learns the other pilot’s techniques, capabilities, limits, and personalities. It also learns that it has none of the limitations they do, as it is not human, but a machine. When flying back from a mission, the EDI is struck by lightning, which results in its circuits being changed and it to begin to completely think for itself and not follow orders. It began to make judgments on its own: choosing not to abort a mission even when the possibility for civilian casualties was high and it gave itself a mission to destroy a target in 
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