In response to William Pearson's message below. I agree a definition of symbol might be helpful.
By symbol I just mean something that represents something other than itself. There need not be any explicit definition of what it represents. In some cases what it represents may only be defined by what causes it to have various activations, and what effects those various activations have. Often a symbol represents a set or a range of patterns, including hierarchies or chains of associations, including probabilistic associations. They can represent various degrees of match. Ed Porter -----Original Message----- From: William Pearson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 7:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [agi] A 1st Step To Using Your Image-ination On 15/02/2008, Ed Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Mike, > > You have been pushing this anti-symbol/pro-image dichotomy for a long time. > I don't understand it. > > Images are set, or nets, of symbols. So, if, as you say > > > " all symbols provide an extremely limited *inventory of the > > world* and all its infinite parts and behaviors " > > then images are equally limited, since they are nothing but set or nets of > symbols. Your position either doesn't make sense or is poorly stated. I think the definition of symbols, is what is the problem is here. I tend to think of symbol (in an AI sense at least) to be about or related to something in the world. The classic idea of having symbols for cat or dog, and deducing facts from them. An image is not intrinsically about anything in the world, the optical illusions (dalmatian in spots, two faces or vase or the necker cube) show we can view an image in different ways. Mental Images aren't even necessarily made up of data "about" photon activity, they can be entirely concocted. Mike needs to clarify what he means by symbol before we start, or perhaps find or invent a less confusing word. Will Pearson ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?&; Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=95818715-a78a9b Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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