From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!west.West.Sun.COM!smaug.West.Sun.COM!dab Mon Oct 19 16:58:56 EDT 1992
Article 7253 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: dab@ism.isc.com (Dave Butterfield)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Word Mechanics (was: parts of "Brain and Mind")
Date: 13 Oct 1992 23:50:09 GMT
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References: <1992Oct12.174146.10180@news.media.mit.edu> <1bcpsfINNh06@smaug.West.Sun.COM> <1992Oct13.030550.20919@news.media.mit.edu>
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minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:
>>I suppose one could call it an OR at some level, but I don't
>>usually think of it that way.  I model the understanding going
>>on in the infant's mind as not yet having the necessary
>>appreciation of forms of discomfort to be able to distinguish
>>between them.
>
> [The OR idea] seems necessary, in some form, because the various
> noxious-condition detectors are probably not vague 'emergents' at
> all, but definite devices, e,.g., the thirst, heat, cold, and
> hunger detectors in the hypothalamus...

I think we're in agreement here; I think the difference is a
matter of viewpoint.  From our point of view there are several
inputs (thirst, cold, hunger) all ORed together (into discomfort).
>From another point of view (anywhere beyond the OR gate) there is
one input (discomfort), that has several possible meanings that
can be learned to be distinguished upon closer examination.

I find the latter point of view interesting because I think it's
closer to the point of view of many of the agents or entities
developing in the infant's mind.  Taking the point of view of
those developing entities might shed better light on the process
of their development.  At first all those entities recognize is
"discomfort", so their models and decisions are at that level of
granularity.  Later they learn to recognize finer distinctions as
the models become more complex.

I guess I believe that the two viewpoints facilitate different
sorts of insights into models of the developing infant mind.

Dave
-- 
	I output a string of symbols and I observe the response.


