I agree it is far nicer when advocates of theories are willing to gracefully entertain constructive criticisms of their theories.
However, historically, I'm not sure it's true that this sort of grace on the part of a theorist is well-correlated with the ultimate success of that theorist's theories. I can think of loads of gracious theorists with poor ideas, and loads of obnoxious, overly-harsh, self-centered theorists whose ideas have ultimately proved excellent ;-p -- ben g On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 12:53 PM, Jim Bromer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > We all know that no body of theories has yet solved the major AI > problems that confront us at this time. > > I feel that the discussions about methodologies that may be > theoretically sound or reasonable but not proven to be completely > effective in application should include discussion about the potential > problems that might be associated with them. > > If there have been some results gathered through testing, then we > would all benefit with a discussion of some of the cases where the > principles did not work properly. On the other hand, if there have > not been enough experimental results from application problems to make > insightful criticisms, then the proprietors and enthusiasts should > have the intellectual integrity to express some of the reservations > they may have had about their theories. This seems like a sensible > working principle. > > That is not to say that an advocate has to accept all possible > criticisms as being equal in value. But when an advocate is not able > to present or acknowledge any reasonable criticism about his still > unsubstantiated theories, it looks like a negative indicator about the > generality and efficacy of those theories. > > I know that we all have to deal with criticisms. But using a critical > examination of the theories or criticisms that you are advocating is a > step higher than just defending your theories from any criticism. > > Jim Bromer > > > ------------------------------------------- > agi > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ > Modify Your Subscription: > https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > -- Ben Goertzel, PhD CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC Director of Research, SIAI [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome " - Dr Samuel Johnson ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
