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Article 6364 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: ufessex@mcl.ucsb.edu (Fabian Sehonholz)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: AI and ANN
Message-ID: <ufessex.709372076@mcl>
Date: 24 Jun 92 07:47:56 GMT
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The Algorithmic and Connectionist Nature of The Brain	
by Fabian E. Schonholz

	The problem of Artificial Intelligence, in conjunction with Neural 
	Networks, is mostly in how to approach the research. I personally think
	that both issues are intrinsically interrelated in such complexity that it seems impossible to me to see them as two different branches of the 
	same field of study. If we were to point out the main difference between them, it would be the algorithmic nature of AI v.s. the connectionist 
	nature of ANN. But this differentiation is a mistake. Although my 
	experience in research of any type, and my experience in this field is extremely limited at best, I am very sure that the Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Neural Networks should be two names to denote the same kind 
	of study. To me, the nature of Intelligence is not just Algorithmic or Connectionism, but both. 
		If we compared a Computer with the Brain, we will see that the only real difference is that the Brain, in the context of a Human Being, automatically adapts to new situations, what we call learning. The Computer in the other hand, unless told by the human operator what to do, and how to do it, it will never come out of an idle stage. The mere fact that without the intervention of a human, the machine will never be turned on, signals this main difference. Aside from that, there is only an evolutiona








 in terms of what a human can do and what the machine can do. Nonetheless, we could see that the evolution rate of the machine is exponentially larger that of humans, covering centuries in less than 
		decades.
			The human brain is indeed algorithmic, but it also contains of an 
			infrastructure, the intrinsic network of neurons. It seems obvious that a great deal of what we call Intelligence comes from this infrastructure, and it also seems obvious that the management of this infrastructure buy the algorithms do the rest. Stop to think how you pick a glass up; the motion is regulated by a precise group of signals, but how are this signals produce and under what criteria. The network may produce the appropriate environment for a mapping of some sort, and the algorithms the 








to process this mapping. Or it does not have to be in this way at all. My point is that both ends of the spectrum should be consider in the same context and not separately.


			Fabian E. Schonholz
			ufessex@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu or
			fessex@cs.ucsb.edu


