Mark Waser Wrote: << I'm just finishing off a paper for the AAAI Fall BICA Symposium where I effectively argue that religious belief is a rational drive common to all goal-seeking entities. I don't (by any means) hit people in the face with that exact statement but it's plainly evident from what I do write. Far too many people have been tainted/turned-off by the irrational over-believers and now instinctively throw the baby out with the bathwater whenever religion comes up (Richard Dawkins, I'm looking at you :-). People need to look at what some of the more rational religious leaders are saying (the Dalai Lama being an *excellent* case in point with his hard-core support for the scientific investigation of meditation and other subjects). >> I agree, but, in general, it is usually wiser to praise or criticize the comment rather than the person. (I have learned that the hard way through repeated errors.) Your reason for supporting the Dali Lama is an example of this.
MW Wrote: << What do you perceive as the difference/distinction between scientific rationalism and simple rationalism? I don't perceive them as being different at all. >> I want to write more about this, but to make it simple I would say that rational thought can be seen as being tied to logic or a logical based system of reference. The logic that I am thinking of would not be intended to be used to create a perfect model of the subject of the thought, but as a logic-based model of the conjectures about the subject of the thought. This view can be incorporated into AGI. However, this view of rationalism is problematic, because we usually need to associate a logical position with a referent that will be represented by a range of fluctuating combinations of data events in the data environment. Surprisingly this is even true when the data environment is only comprised of man made symbols like words. So then, scientific rationalism would be a methodical means of looking for confirmatory and disconfirmatory evidence supporting some rational view. Of course, this requires more than rational thought, because it would need to explore alternatives through the use of imagination. Jim Bromer ------------------------------------------- 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=101455710-f059c4 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
