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From: markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder)
Subject: Re: What's innate? (Was Re: Artificial Neural Networks and Cognition
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References: <3g6js6$fug@mp.cs.niu.edu> <1995Jan26.150315.1420@il.us.swissbank.com> <3g8sru$jsn@mp.cs.niu.edu> <1995Jan26.224354.401@news.media.mit.edu>
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 23:29:05 GMT
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In article <1995Jan26.224354.401@news.media.mit.edu>,
Marvin Minsky <minsky@media.mit.edu> wrote:
>Bah.  You cannot assess the "poverty" unless you have an idea of the
>learning scheme.  Didn't Mitchell Marcus show that surprisingly few
>examples were needed, if you have the right sort of representations
>and learning algorithms?
>
>Furthermore, isn't it obvious that the "constraints of Universal
>Grammar" could just as well emerge from the limitations of what the
>learning algorithm could discover, rather than the limitations of the
>ultimate language processor?
>
>I suspect this whole subject is an artifact that came from Chomsky's
>initial separation of "competence" from, I forget what the other is.

Performance.  The distinction was probably motivated by the insufficiency
of Skinner's very surfacy approach to language.

I'm curious, Prof. Minsky: you've been at the same institution as Chomsky
for decades; have you had any interaction?  
