# Explaining a Machine’s Behavior Does Not Prove It Thinks by Emanuel Derman > "From this point of view therefore, as long as I understand the material explanation of a machine's behavior, I will argue that it doesn't think." > **— Emanuel Derman**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* ## Sources and Context - **Full authored response and quotation context:** [I Think That Machines Can't Think](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/26082) — Edge's 2015 annual-question response by Emanuel Derman; the linked page contains the complete response and quoted passage. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] - **Article:** [[articles/Escape Hatch in the Skull|Escape Hatch in the Skull]] - **Article:** [[articles/Who Pays for Your Heaven|Who Pays for Your Heaven]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Personal Identity|Personal Identity]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Cross-Substrate Agency Attribution|Cross-Substrate Agency Attribution]] - [[wiki/Plural Agency|Plural Agency]] - [[wiki/Emergent Self-Model Formation|Emergent Self-Model Formation]] - [[wiki/Asymmetrical Personhood|Asymmetrical Personhood]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "From this point of view therefore, as long as I understand the material explanation of a machine's behavior, I will argue that it doesn't think." — Emanuel Derman, 2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-emanuel-derman-explaining-machines-behavior-not-prove ```