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Article 3006 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Table-lookup Chinese speaker
Message-ID: <1992Jan22.175854.4047@aisb.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 22 Jan 92 17:58:54 GMT
References: <1992Jan21.191924.18205@aisb.ed.ac.uk> <1992Jan21.182524.7880@husc3.harvard.edu> <1992Jan22.161342.17781@cs.yale.edu>
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In article <1992Jan22.161342.17781@cs.yale.edu> mcdermott-drew@CS.YALE.EDU (Drew McDermott) writes:
>All we have to do to defeat the table is allude to some fact that is
>true now and known to the average human, but not always true.  E.g.,
>the fact that earth is inhabitable.  Or, better yet, pick a fact that
>might be true at some times but is not true now.

Only if you suppose that humans who've been out of touch would
fail to pass the TT.

>   "Do you have the time?"

This is the only example that requires updating every few seconds,
and, well, some people just don't know what time it is.

>Perhaps the thought experiment is supposed to involve having the table
>get updated every few seconds to reflect changes in the world.  If so,
>one must begin to inquire about the agency that is doing the updating,
>and what its (rather stressful) mental life might be like.
>
>[All these points were made a few months ago, by the way, and some of
>the examples above I have stolen from the people who made them up.]

They're good points, but not, to me, conclusive.


