In William Lycan's essay Robots and Minds, the author tries to show that it is possible that robots do indeed have the same type of mind that humans do. That is, that machines are able to have consciousness.

Lycan delves right into the problem by introducing Artificial Intelligence or AI. He claims that researchers have already designed machines that can play chess, sort mail, read books, etc.... Lycan then comes to the conclusion that all of these functions are considered to be intelligent behaviour.

Lycan, sensing a problem with the word "intelligent", goes on to define intelligence. He believes that intelligence is the ability to be flexible or to provide responses in unexpected situations. Lycan then concludes that humans must have intelligence as we possess these traits. However, stupid machines like can-openers don't have intelligence. The author then states that intelligent creatures are information-sensitive creatures. Moreover, intelligent creatures register information, then stores the information, and ultimately uses the information. By accepting this definition of intelligence, Lycan says that computers are intelligent. After-all, a computer is designed to be fed data, store it, manage it, and then produce conclusions.

The author then back-tracks a bit by saying that although a computer may have intelligence, by his definition, it certainly has no judgment, goals or promises, due to the fact that computers rely on programmers to feed it information. By redefining the computer, Lycan sets us up for a thought-experiment. Mr. Lycan then gives us the problem: If a supercomputer were able to perform intelligent tasks just as well as a human, could that show that the computer had human properties such as thought, consciousness, emotion etc...

To deal with the problem, Lycan introduces us to his thought-experiment, "Harry". Harry has human form, talks like a human, and acts like a human (plays golf, and yells at kids!). In fact, everyone believes that Harry is a human. Is Harry a person, with thoughts and emotion, or is he just a bunch of parts that resemble a human, Lycan asks. Well, Harry would pass any of the tests that humans have to test for consciousness. Lycan realizes that this still doesn't prove Harry's consciousness more than it would prove mine or your consciousness. That is, by acting a certain way does not guarantee sense perception, or personhood.

Lycan then offers his best argument. Why shouldn't we think that Harry is real? Because he looks so bizarre? I mean, Harry was made in a laboratory and is composed anatomically of wires. Surely that's very different from humans. The author then deftly dismisses all of these arguments as being a form of racism and/or racial prejudices. We are always taught that where a person origins from or what they look like is not important compared to their psychological processes. Why should we treat Harry differently?

Mr. Lycan then introduces another thought experiment, "Henrietta". Suppose, he argues, that Henrietta is first a human being. Then slowly but surely we replace all of her limbs and tissue with synthetic replacements, including her brain. The doctors do such a great job that no one notices a difference between the old Henrietta and the new Henrietta. After all, Henrietta does everything exactly the way that she did it before. Lycan is quick to point out that that her body no longer exists, but does her consciousness? At what point did Henrietta stop being herself?

If we agree by these arguments that both Harry and Henrietta are indeed humans, then we must extend to them the same rights and morals that we extend to others. We don't treat someone else differently because of their wooden leg, so why treat Harry and Henrietta differently because of their physical makeup (they had no choice!), is different than others. Lycan then wonders if we can determine how "smart" a machine must be before we call it a person.

The author then plays the role of the devil's advocate and claims that computers only do what they're told to do. They have no freedom of choice. Lycan then claims that this is not true, as freedom depends only on what you define freedom as being. Lycan says that freedom is being able to do what you want to do without other forces coercing you not to. This definition seems to imply that Harry and Henrietta have no freedom. On the contrary, says Lycan. Harry is a very unpredictable machine. We think we know how he will react, but we're never really sure. This unpredictableness is very characteristic of people. If we agree with Lycan's original argument ( concludes that Harry has beliefs, desires and intentions), then it is true that Harry carries out his own mental processes without being externally forced. Thus Harry satisfies the definition of freedom.

Throughout the entire essay, Lycan tries to show that biochemical constitution is not a factor when speaking of psychology. More definitely, "What matters to mentality is not the stuff of which one is made, but the complex way in which that stuff is organized" (206). It can then be concluded that a person (or dog or computer) can have the same feelings (mental events) by having different physical events going on inside the being that were somehow related in the ways characteristic of that mental event. For example, there must be equivalents of pain among humans, other animals and computers. This argument is known as Functionalism. Since Lycan seems to suggest functionalism, it can be construed that William Lycan is a Functionalist.