Nick,
I don't think you addressed my two objections. But you did raise another
issue. How do behaviorists distinguish between what you call the organism
and what you call it's environment? I don't say that lightly. As you
know, I think the issue of how to identify entities is fundamental. For
Robert C.,
i wouldnt mind calling collective mental processes a mind because, to me, a
mental process is a pattern of interaction between an organism and an
environment; but i thought you were calling brain processes a mind.
is your thinker-in-a-vat anesthetized and paralyzed?
To me (Russ),
Dear Friammers,
If anyone is curious about where I ended up on Schroedinger's glass of water,
it's pasted in below.
I don't necessarily recommend it.
Thanks for your collective patience.
Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University
Dear Nicholas
The foundation of your construct is that North Blandia consists of 10
counties with 10,000 people in each. The problem is what happens to the
people in the other 9 counties - where do they go looking for work if there
is no work in Blather county - how do you maintain your
Russ,
Good questions. These are indeed obvious vulnerabilities that behaviorists
are familiar with. Of course, if I just said what I thought, then the answers
would seem more solid, but I will try to give a flavor of the broader reality
of the field, not just my opinion.
Your Q1: How big (or
Nice way to put it Robert.
Nick, is it really your position that nothing goes on inside the head? How
can you take that position? Lots of neuron firings take place inside the
head. I imagine you aren't denying that -- only that neuron firings do not
constitute thinking -- whatever that means.
Thanks for your answers Eric. I like your answer to Q1 that the unit of
observation is at the functional level -- where functional refers to an act
that changes the relationship between an entity and its environment.
Since almost every change can be divided into smaller changes, that doesn't
Last month Science reported the results (
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;328/5975/208) of a social
learning tournament (http://www.intercult.su.se/cultaptation/tournament.php).
In non-social algorithmic learning, an agent has the choice between
exploiting what it already
very interesting. thanks.ToryOn May 3, 2010, at 12:29 PM, Roger Critchlow wrote:Last month Science reported the results (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;328/5975/208) of a social learning tournament (http://www.intercult.su.se/cultaptation/tournament.php). In non-social
