From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!watdragon.uwaterloo.ca!logos.uwaterloo.ca!cpshelle Mon Aug 24 15:41:23 EDT 1992
Article 6659 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: cpshelle@logos.uwaterloo.ca (cameron shelley)
Subject: Re: what is consciousness for?
Message-ID: <BtA916.9EI@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca>
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Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <1992Aug19.143831.14839@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 12:51:05 GMT

rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
> >                                                         Cultural
> >learning, on the other hand, has to be rapid, given the short lifespan
> >of each individual who must learn it to transmit it.  As you remark,
> >consciousness would be an advantage in this system if it sped up the
> >acquisition of learned behaviour. 
> 
> I guess we have different concepts of "rapid learning".  Learning over
> a lifetime seems anything but rapid.  Most learning of culture is quite
> slow.  Dealing with crisis and emergency situations, on the other hand,
> requires rapid learning.

That's true, but also an extreme case, if I understand your meaning. 
I think learning over a lifetime is quite rapid when compared with the
general rate of genetic `learning'.  And if you subscribe to the
neotony theory of human evolution (which holds that humans are
somewhat like immature apes---apparently not an uncommon genetic
change), then our prolonged childhoods exist specifically to extend
our period of rapid learning from a couple of years to around fifteen. 
Given the amount of information young humans are expected to acquire,
even that amount of time seems small. 

</dev/cam
--
      Cameron Shelley        |"In the beginning, there was nothing.  Then
cpshelle@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca | God said `Let there be light', and there
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 Phone (519) 885-1211 x3390  | --Dave Thomas, SCTV:_Sunrise Semester_


