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Article 6211 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: throop@aurs01.UUCP (Wayne Throop)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Squiggles and Squoggles
Message-ID: <60805@aurs01.UUCP>
Date: 11 Jun 92 16:37:24 GMT
References: <1992Jun11.055038.9628@Princeton.EDU>
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Lines: 37

> harnad@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Stevan Harnad)
> is the
> distinction between a real object and a symbolic description or
> simulation of it. Lose that (or fail to have grasped it in the first
> place) and you are hopelessly lost in the hermeneutic hall of mirrors
> created by projecting interpretations onto systematically interpretable
> squiggles and squoggles (or the video displays they drive) and
> forgetting where they originated from.

I'm still hopelessly confused by Stevan Harnad's position.

Just what exactly is involved in passing the TTT other than the
projection of an interpretation onto a systematically interpretable
set of gestures, utterances, and other actions?

I presume everyone agrees that squiggles and squoggles (say, printed on
paper) are real objects (say, made of ink) not "virtual" objects or
"symbolic descriptions" of objects.  If a TT-passing entity has
produced these squiggles and squoggles (physical objects, produced by
physical actions of the TT testee), then why is the systematic
interpretation of them any less meaningful than the systematic
interpretation of the TTT-passing entity's gestures and utterances?

What is the relevant difference between a systematic interpretation of
one set of physical actions (gestures and utterances), and the other
(pixels placed on screens, ink placed on paper)?

Far from my losing track of the distinction between real objects
and symbolic descriptions of them, it seems to me that I'm being
urged to lose track of the fact that instances of symbols are
actually real physical objects.

And I'm certainly not convinced that it matters where these
physical squiggles and squoggles came from, any more than it
matters what's inside a successful TTT testee.

Wayne Throop       ...!mcnc!aurgate!throop


