On Jan 5, 2008 10:52 PM, Mike Tintner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think I've found a simple test of cog. sci. > > I take the basic premise of cog. sci. to be that the human mind - and > therefore its every activity, or sequence of action - is programmed.
No. This is one perspective taken by some cognitive scientists. It does not characterize the field. > (This has huge implications for AGI - you guys believe that an AGI must be > programmed for its activities, I contend that free composition instead is > essential for truly adaptive, general intelligence and is the basis of all > animal and human activities). Spontaneous, creative self-organized activity is a key aspect of Novamente and many other AGI designs. > So how to test cog sci? I contend that the proper, *ideal* test is to record > humans' actual streams of thought about any problem - like, say, writing an > essay - and even just a minute's worth will show that, actually, humans have > major difficulties following anything like a joined-up, rational train of > thought - or any stream that looks remotely like it could be programmed > overall. A) While introspection is certainly a valid and important tool for inspiring work in AI and cog sci, it is not a test of anything. There is much empirical evidence showing that humans' introspections of their own cognitive processes are highly partial and inaccurate. For instance, if we were following the arithmetic algorithms that we think we are, there is no way the timing of our responses when solving arithmetic problems would come out the way they actually do. (I don't have the references for this work at hand, but I saw it years ago in the Journal of Math Psych I believe.) B) Whether something "looks like" it's following a simple set of rules doesn't mean much. Chaotic underlying dynamics can give rise to high-level orderly behavior; and simple systems of rules can give rise to apparently disorderly, incomprehensibly complex behaviors. Cf the whole field of complex-systems dynamics. -- Ben G ----- 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=82365583-966081
