On 20 Jul 2010 at 13:44, Ham Priday wrote:
Magnus, Platt, All -- [Platt]: > Those interested in A.I. will find a recent article by David Gelernter > (who > needs no introduction to A.I. fans) at: > > http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gelernter10.1/gelernter10.1_index.html > > He points out that human thinking involves a lot more than reason. Perhaps > you'll find his ideas helpful in understanding the MOQ's intellectual > level. I don't think a professor of computer science is the best authority on human thinking. However, for those who don't read this article, this paragraph sums up Gelernter's argument: "Human beings and animals are conscious and, as the philosopher John Searle has argued (in effect), a scientist must assume that consciousness results from a certain chemical, physical structure-just as photosynthesis results from the chemistry of plants. You can't program your laptop or cellphone to transform carbon dioxide into sugar; computers are made of the wrong stuff for photosynthesis-and the wrong stuff for consciousness." As I've said many times, the fallacy in relegating human functions like consciousness, intellection, conceptualization, and sensibility to a supra-human domain or level is that it makes man little more than a robot of natural evolution. Of course we can build a machine that duplicates the function of a thinking robot. In his own way, Pirsig's positing of the universe as a "moral system" favors A.I development. His MoQ reduces sentient subjects to mere "quality patterns" driven by nature's universe rather than by their own rationalized value-sensibility. The consequence of this worldview will be a collective society that dismisses individual freedom, creativity, and personal fulfillment as outmoded egoistic "static patterns". Hi Ham, I think you have a point there, in fact, a couple of points. Gelerntner, like other science types, is sure that mind emerges magically from matter. Big error, but locked into SOM metaphysics, no other conclusion is possible. Pirsig flirts with the same assumption but saves the MOQ with his indefinable DQ that trumps SOM's mind-from-matter value. [Ham] We're halfway there already, aren't we Platt? More than halfway I'd say with socialists Obama, Pelosi and Reid in charge, backed by their like-minded co-conspirators piling on their liberty-killing regulations and spending us into oblivion. Best regards and higher hopes for betterness, Ham I join you in those sentiments. Platt Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
