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Article 4980 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: bruce@supr.scm.liv.ac.uk (Bruce Stephens)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: SHRDLU's mind
Message-ID: <BRUCE.92Apr8103236@suprenum.supr.scm.liv.ac.uk>
Date: 8 Apr 92 09:32:36 GMT
References: <6737@pkmab.se> <1992Apr5.210553.11966@psych.toronto.edu><1992Apr6.023638.518@
 organpipe.uug.arizona.edu><1992Apr6.182533.109@psych.toronto.edu>
Organization: Centre for Mathematical Software Research, Univ. Liverpool, UK
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In-reply-to: christo@psych.toronto.edu's message of 6 Apr 92 18:25:33 GMTLines: 27

>>>>> On 6 Apr 92 18:25:33 GMT, christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green) said:
> Varying degrees of sophistication have no bearing on the question of
> presence or absense.  A small mind is still a mind, just as a small ball
> is still a ball.

Well yes, a small mind is a mind---but it's less of a mind than a
larger mind.  A small non-zero number is still a non-zero number, but
1000 is quantitively different from 1.  The question is surely one of
degree.

Humans develop from things which don't have minds to things that do.
I see no reason to assume that the process isn't a gradual one (though
it might normally be a very quick one).

> And for the reasons I give above (in part) I deny it a mind.

I'm not sure the question `would such a SHRLDU have a mind' can
meaningfully be answered by a yes/no response.

> -- 
> Christopher D. Green                christo@psych.toronto.edu
> Psychology Department               cgreen@lake.scar.utoronto.ca
> University of Toronto
> ---------------------
--
Bruce Stephens.  Centre for Mathematical Software Research, Liverpool Univ.
Internet: bruce@uxb.liv.ac.uk     JANET: bruce@uk.ac.liv.uxb


