6.Artificial intelligence vs Human mind

It seems that since the invention and along with the constant developing of the computers and other complicated machines the question of the confrontation between them and human mind has been rising more often and often.

Of course, artificial intelligence has been created by the human mind and of course human beings tried to create their machines "in their image and likeness" what means that the macliines must be able to recreate the capabilities of the human mind. And in many areas and tasks where cold mind, excellent memory and automatism are the only things that matter artificial intelligence can be quite efficient. For example, if we're talking about the game of chess where a mind must be able to remember and predict and analyze lots of possible combinations and variations it's very difficult for a person to beat a contemporary computer with a high-speed processor and great amount of memory where all the possible combinations and played before games are saved.

But there's also an essential difference between artificial intelligence and human mind. And tliat difference is mainly concerned with the fact that human beings are not tlie machines, they are living biological creatures with their emotions and feelings, their thoughts and beliefs, their meiTiories of the past and hopes for the future. All of those are not possible for artificial intelligence. Machines can produce only those actions that had been prescribed for them and they only can work and produce their actions according to the strict programmes held in their memory. But our lives are not the steady programme codes, they are altering, the minor changes can be happening all the time so it's not possible to use only the same programmes written beforehand - sometimes you should act according the situation and psychological atmosphere, your ethic and moral beliefs - and that is what the machines are not capable of

So, answering the question whether artificial intelligence is a reality or not, I don't believe and don't really want to believe that it can be an aciiievable possibility. That is because even though I'm not too much famiUar with the computer technologies I really can't believe that one day the machines will be able to think and cooperate on their own -1 think that human brain is simply irreplaceable and unique. But if for some chance that will become possible one day, I really don't want this to happen because otherwise we'll get the same situation as in the "I, ROBOT" movie and I don't want at all our lives to be controlled by the machines.

7.School education issues.

School education is one of the most important issues in peoples' lives that takes a lot of our time and proves to be the main activity for us in the childhood and teenage. We get the most part of our general knowledge and lessons of communication and life at school, that's why school education is compulsory in most countries of the world. But of course the systems of school education differ from one country to another.

Talking about Russia - here we start our school education at about 6-7 years old and study for 11 years. The school is theoretically divided into primary, secondary and high school but that fact doesn't really matter. As a rule all the pupils of all ages study in the same building together and for all their school life and even though they have to pass some exams every year and more serious exams after each step that doesn't really matter because nearly all of them will continue their studying at the next level in the same class anyway. And the list of the subjects to study and the quantity of the hours for each of them are approved by the govermnent, there's no freedom for the pupils here. Though such situation mostly concerns the state schools, where the most part of our children study. But of course there're also some private schools where everything can be quite different.

It seems that the situation is different in other countries, in the UK and US for example. So, in the UK there're all-through schools as well as pre-preparatory, junior and lugh schools; there are sometimes different schools for boys and girls; the boarding schools are also rather common. In whole the schools are public and private. It can be said that people start studying there at 2 and finish at 18.

In the USA there are so-called elementary, middle and high schools, the studying begins at 5 and continues till 18. The process of studying at the elementary school more reminds a game than hard work, encouraging children to explore and learn from experience. And since the middle school the process becomes more serious, and later the students even have to choose the subjects the want to study.

I don't really now about the main exams in other courtiers because I've never passed them but I'd like to mention the contemporary educational reform in our country. Since recently for finishing school the cliildren have to pass the state exam on several subjects in test forai. The results of those exams can be used for entering the universities, though some of them, especially the best ones, hold the additional trials for the future students. Even though such state exam allows people to relax a bit and not be afraid of the additional entrance exams. I thuik that those tests prevent from thinking and help degradation of our nation and educational system.