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Article 2978 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Searle, again
Message-ID: <1992Jan21.223055.7887@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: 22 Jan 92 03:30:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Jan21.223055.7887
References: <1992Jan20.175243.30222@spss.com> <1992Jan21.192710.18340@aisb.ed.ac.uk> <1992Jan21.233819.26595@news.media.mit.edu>
Organization: Dept. of Math, Harvard Univ.
Lines: 45
Nntp-Posting-Host: zariski.harvard.edu

In article <1992Jan21.233819.26595@news.media.mit.edu> 
minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:

>In article <1992Jan21.192710.18340@aisb.ed.ac.uk> 
>jeff@aifh.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton) writes:

JD:
>>You might not think so.  But in any case if Searle's arguments were
>>just bluster, why would anyone be taking them seriously?  I think
>>that's actually an interesting question.  Why are Searle's arguments
>>still being debated?

MM:
>I suggest you might satisfy your curiosity by performing an empirical
>study of the correlation between
>
>  * those who think Searle is probably right . . . and
>  * those who think that humans are probably created with souls

"Christianity is Platonism for the masses."

MM:
>Consider that theology is just bluster, yet most people take it
>seriously.  The anti-strong-AI is clearly a religious issue, not a
>philosophical one, because there isn't any well-defined test for
>sentience, intentionality, consciousness or any of the other terms at
>the core of that debate.

By the same token, the epistemological hypotheses of strong AI belong to
the realm of theology, on equal footing with anabaptism and other millenial
delusions, since no empirical science worth its salt comes prepackaged with
its own eschatology.  Can you say "begging the question"?


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: Mikhail Zeleny                                                     :
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