Op-Ed: Analogies teach computers to think like humans -- Sort of

The move to analogies as teaching methods is a major step in "cognitive computing," which allows computers to learn and even reprogram themselves. Cognitive computing is the big evolutionary step to true artificial intelligence. The new research is being carried out by Northwestern University, using a new approach called the Structure Mapping Engine (SME) which is capable of analogic problem solving, including "moral dilemmas". So far, the results are pretty straightforward -- computers retrieve memories to find analogic situations -- Case A resembles Example C, but not Cases B or D, etc. This type of very basic, very important learning is roughly kindergarten level for humans.