> Nor BTW are am I arguing at all against symbols, (you might care to look > at the "Picture Tree" thread I started a few months ago to better understand > my thinking here) - the brain (and any true AGI, I believe) uses symbols, > outline graphics [or Johnson's image schemata] and images in parallel, > interdependently and continuously, to reason about the world. (Note: > "continuously." You seem to think that some occasional sensory grounding of > an AGI system here and there will do. No, I'm arguing, it has to be, and > is, continuous and applied to all information and subjects). >
I really don't see why you think that, say, mathematical theorem-proving needs to be sensorially grounded... Of course sensorimotor reality is a potent source of analogies to guide mathematical theorem-proving, but, surely there can be purely abstract reasoning without a direct or useful sensorimotor connection!! Grounding needs to be more than occasional, but it doesn't need to be everywhere in a mind, IMO... What I am arguing against, rather than symbols, is what you might call the > "bookroom illusion" - which you saw graphically illustrated in John Rose's > post - the illusion that you can "learn about the world just from books" - > or, to be precise, that you can learn, and think about and build models of > the world with symbols/ text alone. > You seem to be confusing the issues of -- the nature of the inputs to the AI system -- the inner workings of the AI system I agree that having sensorimotor experience (in a physical or virtual world) is very important for an AGI, but, that doesn't imply anything about how "symbolic" or otherwise the inner workings of the AGI need be... It's an understandable illusion given that we often spend hours apparently > doing nothing but read text. But it is an illusion. The brain does, and has > to, continuously make sense (in images) of everything we read.And if it > can't then that text won't make sense - & it's a case of "I can't see what > you are talking about." > You seem to be a very sensorially-oriented thinker yourself, and hence assuming that everyone else (even AGI's) needs to be that way!!! -- Ben ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=52799947-974a3b
