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Article 5864 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Grounding: Real vs. Virtual (formerly "on meaning")
Keywords: symbol, analog, Turing Test, robotics
Message-ID: <1992May23.141738.14114@news.media.mit.edu>
Date: 23 May 92 14:17:38 GMT
References: <595@trwacs.fp.trw.com> <1992May22.152511.675@news.media.mit.edu> <ppyky7j.nagle@netcom.com>
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Cc: minsky

In article <ppyky7j.nagle@netcom.com> nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) writes:
>minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:
>
>>In article <595@trwacs.fp.trw.com> erwin@trwacs.fp.trw.com (Harry
Erwin) writes:  [deleted]
>
>>I'd be careful about using this for philosophical argument because it
>>is not clear that motor feedback is required for human development --
>>at least in "large quantities".  
>
>       Some mammals are far more functional at birth than others.
>Horses are notable for being able to stand within an hour of birth
>and run with the herd within a day.  Guinea pigs are similarly functional
>shortly after birth.  (Mice, and other rodents, though, are not.)
>The fact that there are complex mammals born with vision,
>coordination, balance, and locomotion fully functional indicates that
>the notion of the mammal brain as blank at birth is not correct.
>
>        This is a useful observation, because it allows one to reject
>some hypotheses about how mammalian brains might work.
>
>					John Nagle

In "Society of Mind" I made a weak argument that humans have evolved
to be especially helpless in infancy -- so that they're forced to
learn more from their parents.


