Actually, explanation is not typically thought of as a 'validation' (or confirmation) although it is a necessary part of confirmation, which is probably what I meant. First of all, I am using 'explanation' here to represent 'understanding'. The problem with this is that 'understanding' is the elusive goal that we are seeking. We need some way for our programs to attain understanding. So if we use understanding as a primary means of theorizing (or making a theory-like objects of thought) then we would need another method to act as confirmation. The act of confirmation is usually seen as arriving to a conclusion using an alternative method of insight. This becomes subtle because when we are talking about an essential ability of an AGI program we are not using these terms to mean something like being able to integrate new knowledge in a knowing way or something like that. We are not talking about the same kind of thing like confirming an arrival time or confirming a story that a newspaper wants to print. However, the goal of getting a computer program to acquire knowledge that can be used 'intelligently' probably requires a number of different methods to validate knowledge. But again, from my point of view, they all require 'explanatory power' or something like that. The use of prediction as a form of validation uses the perception of an event (found in input) as confirmation, but the real problem there is that most useful observations are based on complex assessments of input, so here explanatory power is a necessary part of an observation. So, at the very least I can say, with some confidence, that multiple paths of reasoning are necessary for confirmation, but the inclusion of an observation is an important method.
Jim Bromer ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
