原文
Machine Intelligence
Machines started their journey with humans as an upgraded version of rudimentary tools such as sticks as we saw in the previous chapter. Very quickly they established themselves as an invaluable partner of humans in their daily life. They reduced the hardships from human life, they reduced the amount of hazardous work from human life, they enabled humans to carry out more than what they could do with their body alone, thereby making their lives safer, easier, more rewarding, peaceful, and ultimately happier. However, these benefits were not without challenges and accompanied dangers.
These machines could also be used by humans against each other; they helped create ways of destroying human life at an unimaginable scale as illustrated by their use in world wars. The machines that save labor can also create more work; the machines that grant us more power can also rob us of control; machines that can help us live longer can also be the tools of our own destruction. Machines essentially create an extreme version of humans in nearly every aspect possible. In the earlier chapter, we saw the emergence of machines; in this chapter, we are going to see how they acquired intelligence.
Technological progress that spanned over the past thousands of years enabled the machines to gain more and more power and skills; however, they remained as dumb as a rock when left on their own or used outside of the rather narrow scope of their operation. The intelligence of machines arose as an entirely new concept only in the late twentieth century.
Machine intelligence has always been a subject of incredible interest and fascination to us since then. To really understand the origin of intelligence in machines, we will digress a little and look at what lies at the core of the operation of machines.
参考译文
机器智能
正如前章所述，机器最初以木棍等基础工具的升级形态出现，开启了与人类相伴的历程。它们迅速成为人类日常生活中不可或缺的伙伴：不仅减轻了生活的困苦、减少了危险劳动，更赋予人类突破自身体能极限的能力，最终让生活更安全、更轻松、更富足，也更幸福。然而，这些福祉并非毫无代价—— 机器既能成为助力人类的救赎之手，亦潜藏着威胁生存的 毁灭之力。
人类曾将机器化作相互对抗的武器。机器在世界大战中的应用便足以证明，已具备以空前规模摧毁生命的能力。颇具矛盾性的是：节省劳力的机器，反而可能催生更多工作量；赋予人类力量的机器，亦可能剥夺人类的掌控权；本可延长寿命的机器，甚至会成为自我毁灭的工具。本质而言，机器几乎在所有领域，都将人类的能力推向了极致。前章我们见证了机器的诞生，本章则将聚焦它们如何逐步获得智能。
数千年的技术演进，让机器逐渐拥有了更强的能力与更丰富的技能。但一旦脱离人类操控，或是超出其预设的狭窄应用范围，它们便会如顽石般毫无思考能力。直到20世纪末期，机器智能才作为一个全新概念正式出现。
自那时起，机器智能便始终是人类极度痴迷且深感惊叹的领域。若想真正理解机器智能的起源，我们需稍作迂回，先探究清楚机器运作的核心本质究竟是什么。