On Jun 27, 7:41 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > you are necessarily delittantish, for there is no profession > for it!
None indeed. But for the amateur, all is done for love. Cheers D > You are psychic...I was going to ask for a bio!.... > > it is refreshing to find a computer scientist that honestly faces the > brute biological reality of messy neuro-cells and their cognitive > faculties and really lets it speak its story ... one more complex than > mere symbol manipulation ...As an engineer I admit to the same > experience... except I am going to build the AGI after the fashion of > the experience thus obtained... dilettantry is not an option!... > although if you are a multidisciplinary type (as it seems you > are....you are necessarily delittantish, for there is no profession > for it! > > cheers > col > > Quoting David Nyman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > > > Recent dialogues with Russell, plus discovering and finding helpful > > previous joining posts, prompts me to post this for reference > > purposes. > > > I was born in 1950 in Glasgow Scotland of Anglo-Scottish parents, and > > come from Hungarian, Middle Eastern, Russian, and Polish ancestry > > insofar as I can trace it. Mixed, anyway. > > > My formal academic background is also best described as 'mixed', but > > early on I always felt a bit inadequate compared to my teachers, who > > seemed to just 'know' the 'answers' somehow, because they wrote them > > straight on to the blackboard. Myself, I had to 'puzzle' them out by > > something like trial and error. Also, their 'explanations' seemed to > > lead only to more questions. This exasperated my teachers. One day > > (I guess I must have been about 9) I read a book of logic problems > > that not only contained the answers, but the author's account of how > > he'd reached them. Turns out he'd used trial and error! I remember > > it dawned on me like a bolt of lightning: "Everybody thinks like > > this!" And thus reassured, I went on in this way. > > > There's a corollary to this tale. Many years later, I attended a > > seminar where the neuroscientist Karl Pribram was the principal > > presenter. I was so stimulated by the dialogue that I 'kidnapped' him > > afterwards by giving him a lift to the house where we'd both been > > invited to dinner. As he sat wearily in the passenger seat, I rambled > > on about this and that, and after a while this led to my 'sharing' my > > great 'Everybody thinks like that' insight. "You're wrong." he said, > > and sank back into torpor. My heart sank. Then he sighed, and said: > > "Only people who can think at all, think like that." > > > My professional career spans 35+ years in computer systems development > > in the private sector, from machine code and plug-board days, through > > assembler and a wide variety of high-level languages. The hands-on > > part spanned more than 20 years and I worked originally in commercial > > applications development for systems vendors, focusing on elements of > > operating systems and failure and recovery methods. I developed early > > versions of 'net-change' manufacturing planning and forecasting > > systems, and from 1989, was an early participant in the nascent on- > > line (originally phone-based) retail financial sector. I became Head > > of Systems Architecture and Head of Information Analysis for the first > > UK on-line bank, and Head of IT for an on-line retail insurer. These > > days, I do part time IT and business consultancy, and dabble in topics > > like those on this list. I've now achieved the status I've always > > sought: self-employed dilettante. > > > I can't recall exactly when my interest in AI and 'mind body' issues > > began, but it was re-stimulated by John Searle's ideas as presented in > > the 1984 BBC Reith Lectures, which got me furiously thinking and > > reading about functionalism and then-current mind-brain theories like > > Pribram's Holonomic theory. I reached a vague realisation that > > functionalism was incompatible with materialism, which is why I had a > > start of recognition when I encountered Bruno's arguments. But I've > > really spent the intervening period just 'dilettanting' around the > > related areas - philosophy of mind, epistemology, QM, cosmology, > > Darwinism, etc. - as my enthusiasm and energy waxes and wanes. > > > I've read or skimmed quite a lot of the book list others have > > mentioned, but definitely need more rigour on the math and logic > > background. The existence of forums like this one has more or less > > kept my marriage intact when it might not have survived many further > > attempts to 'innocently' subvert ordinary conversations into > > 'epistomology' or some such nonsense. > > > A few books that have triggered something or other, or that I often > > return to: > > > The Fabric of Reality (Deutsch) > > The Conscious Mind (Chalmers) > > Wholeness and the Implicate Order (Bohm) > > The End of Time (Barbour) > > The Emperor's New Mind (Penrose) > > Theory of Nothing (Standish) > > Laws of Form (Spencer-Brown) > > The Quark and The Jaguar (Gell-Mann) > > Godel, Escher Bach (Hofstadter) > > The Mind's I (Hofstadter and Dennett) > > Consciousness Explained (Dennett) > > The Selfish Gene (Dawkins) > > The Blank Slate (Pinker) > > The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Popper) > > The Open Society and Its Enemies (Popper) > > The Man who mistook His Wife for a Hat (Sacks) > > The Society of Mind (Minsky) > > How Children Learn (Holt) > > The Act of Creation (Koestler) > > The Psychology of Learning Mathematics (Skemp) > > Frogs into Princes (Bandler and Grinder) > > The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Conan Doyle) > > Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Carroll) > > Foucault's Pendulum (Eco) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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