If
solipsism is to be believed, then the machine can
think only what you, yourself thinks. There is an
irony here, because throughout
history we have
programmed the
computer and therefore
decide what it does and doesn't "think" so the idea of computers being able to think has been
solipsistic from
the beggining. However, the question begins to
hinge as computers progress on whether you believe in
solipsism, because soon the computers will be programming themselves, and at that point it is no longer so
clear. It is sad that the idea of whether or not computers can become
sentient may be based on something as
weak foundationalism.
References:
solipsism,
epistemology,
foundationalism