can computers think?

At a time when computer technology is advancing at a breakneck pace and when software developers are glibly hawking their wares as having artificial intelligence, the inevitable question has begun to take on a certain urgency: Can a computer think? Really think? Yes, machines can think in principle, but not necessarily in the same way we do. Computers can think if one admits that the question is to be answered by experiment and observation, comparing the behaviour of the computer with that behaviour of human beings to which the terms “thinking” is generally applied.