Linas: However, once one has actually learned how to think abstractly,
its not obvious to me that sensory grounding is needed; and indeed, trying to touch back to the grounding can prevent one from making the next leap of abstraction.
Would you say that once your brain has learned that a set of ideas, are true - it no longer needs to test them for truth when it hears them again? Truth-testing is continuous in the human brain - and has to be - because, of course, any given set of ideas can be re-expressed in an infinity of forms. Obviously, once you know your multiplication tables, it doesn't mean that either you or someone else isn't going to make a mistake in multiplication.
Making sense of - or grounding - is a form of truth-testing. It has to be continuous - or you could die or otherwise be harmed, or, conversely miss opportunities. Information is potentially dangerous and/or rewarding. "That's [not] a sign for poison." "There are two guns trained on you." Your brain had better be able to make sense of those symbols, and connect the symbols to the sensory referents.
AGI's living in virtual worlds don't have these problems - aren't subject to continuous pressures. Agents in the real world do and are..
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