From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!psych.toronto.edu!christo Tue Feb 11 15:25:17 EST 1992
Article 3540 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
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>From: christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green)
Subject: Re: Strong AI and Panpsychism
Message-ID: <1992Feb6.183643.8076@psych.toronto.edu>
Keywords: panpsychism
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
References: <1992Feb4.044728.12324@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> <1992Feb5.183955.13789@psych.toronto.edu> <1992Feb5.210050.22158@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1992 18:36:43 GMT

In article <1992Feb5.210050.22158@mp.cs.niu.edu> rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>In article <1992Feb5.183955.13789@psych.toronto.edu> michael@psych.toronto.edu (Michael Gemar) writes:
>>
>>I have a belief that cats are actually extremely cleverly disguised
>>visitors from Mars.  I *also* believe that the Wicked Witch of the
>>West will turn me into a toad if I *act* like I believe cats are
>>aliens.  Surely there is some difference between this case and the 
>>case where I believe that cats are just cats, yet there would be no
>>behavioural difference.  I can also have beliefs about events that
>>happen in dreams, yet these have no (overt) behavioural consequences.
>
> I wonder if the two different possible beliefs about cats is any different
>in principle from alternative representing the integer zero as a bitstring
>of zero bits, or representing it as the null character string, as some
>string processing languages do?
>
Of course it is. Michaels two beliefs have all kinds of semantics  
entailments that their absence does not. For instance, that he believes
the WWW exists, and that cats exist, and that martians exist, and that
toads are possible, etc.



-- 
Christopher D. Green                christo@psych.toronto.edu
Psychology Department               cgreen@lake.scar.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto
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