The new English Penguin dictionary defines a computer as a 'programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve and process data'. Outlined in this way it means that when talking about what computers cannot do one has to take into account that there are computers in most electronic equipment. Electronic chips are devices that have been designed to store different input and output voltages. Hence, all silicon chips are forms of a computer and these are placed inside televisions, video recorders, microwaves etc. Another point to make is that when discussing what computers cannot do some boundaries have to be defined. It will be very easy to say computers cannot change into frogs and such but this would lead to very disorganised arguments and structure. In this essay when discussing what computers cannot do, the computers will be mainly compared to humans. Discovering what computers cannot do will have to be tackled in a different way. Firstly it may be important to see what computers can do in order to find out what they cannot do. Computers were designed to solve mathematical problems much faster than humans could. This slowly progressed onto storage of data and then became the tool of our everyday lives. The typical 'personal computer' can perform activities, which entertain, organise and help the lives of people. These computers can run software, such as games, and can assist with normal daily activities, such as writing. At a basic level computers can be described as fast processors of information. However remembering the definition of the word 'computer' means that computers are in most electronic items. Computers are integrated in to the lifestyle of humans in such a way that computers are designed to help in daily activities. Computers can do most actions for example, vacuuming or fly planes. Computers can perform most operations involving electronics. However not all actions involve electronics. Some actions that do not involve electronics involve some form of simple movement. Eating requires the contraction and dilation of muscles in the arm to move food to the mouth; running requires the contraction and dilation of muscles in the legs; movement in general requires the contraction and dilation of muscles. Computers do no have any muscles and so cannot move in this way. They do not have other forms of movement either. Cars move by converting the chemical energy stored in petrol to kinetic energy. This energy drives the engine, rotating the wheels, moving the car forward. There are many types of movement but computers do not have any of them. Since computers do not have muscles, or their equivalents, they cannot physically move by themselves. Other actions that do not require electronics are actions of the mind. At this moment in time computers cannot 'think' in the way that humans do. Computers are designed by humans to take inputs, process these inputs, and then carry out an action based on the input. Computers do not act without some form of input. When humans think they can think creatively and produce new ideas without any real input. Computers can only produce ideas based on what has been programmed into them. In the 1950's, Alan Turing, a computer scientist and mathematician, designed Turing's test. This test was composed to test the artificial intelligence of computers based on verbal response. The test can be described as follows: 'A person and a machine each communicate with an inquisitor, who must decide which is the human and which is the computer. If they guess wrong half the time, the computer is essentially indistinguishable from a human and passes Turing's test.' [2]No computer has ever passed this test. One of the highest scores was by the computer ALBERT which was deemed human only 11% of the time. The score itself is not high yet it is the one of the highest scores for this test. 'Computers still lack the human touch' [3] says Charles Seife of New Scientist magazine. Computers, at present, do not have the intelligence to think like humans or even imitate them. As computers cannot think in they way that humans do they do not also possess 'feelings' or emotions. Emotions are felt in reaction to an event. If one thought that man landing on the moon was a great achievement, then one would feel happy. If one thought that man landing on the moon was not a great achievement then one would not feel happy as result; more likely one would feel indifferent. The way we react to events is based on our ideologies and beliefs. Emotions are activated in a similar way to computers. Computers act based on their inputs. Emotion is conveyed due to an input of some sort. The difference between these is that computers have not been programmed to show emotion. To do so would require a programmer to tell the computer to react to input of certain events. The programmer would then have to tell the computer how to react to the event, react happily, angrily and such. But to do this would take an incredible amount of time, deciding on all the situations and reactions, which is why it has not be implemented in the computers we have today. A different method would be to design a learning computer. This would have to be similar to humans and animals and would require the use of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is difficult to use because the boundaries are not clearly defined. 'Artificial intelligence is as much a ragbag collection of differing opinions as it is scientific inquiry. Few agree even on the meaning of the word intelligence; fewer still on consciousness.' [4]Artificial intelligence involves programming a computer to have intelligence, when intelligence is not clearly defined. Artificial intelligence is still in its early stages and has not yet been completely researched. At present there is no adequate artificial intelligence software. Since programming every scenario into a computer is arduous, and artificial intelligence is not fully developed, computers cannot show anger, sadness or any other emotion. Personal computers are designed to improve the quality of lives. However this design is not always successful. Many people do not use computers, some because they find computers difficult to use others because they do not find computers user friendly. In an attempt to overcome this problem software companies like Microsoft have tried to portray their products with a certain image. They have lots of bright colours to appeal to one type of person, claim ease of use to appeal to another, and still say that their product is the most powerful tool to date. The result is that many people get frustrated by too much help, whilst others cannot find the right help for the right places. Computers also have a tendency to 'crash' losing large amounts of data in the process. This has caused many people to become upset and display a form of computer rage. This occurs in a range of environments, from workplace to bedroom. Computers cannot always bring happiness to the lives of humans, giving as much trouble as help. In conclusion computers cannot do everything. Since they are present in most electronic items they can carry out a huge number of actions. However not every action involves electronics and so there are still some actions that computers cannot do. Most actions that computers cannot do have a relation to humans. Humans can move whereas computers cannot. Humans can think and feel whereas computers cannot. This may only be true for the present time since research is being carried out all the time. However, computers will not bring happiness to the lives of people for a very long time, due to its annoying habit of letting people down. 