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Article 3487 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: smoliar@maclane.iss.nus.sg (stephen smoliar)
Subject: Re: Robotic Follies (was re: Strong AI and Panpsy
Message-ID: <1992Feb5.021730.29817@nuscc.nus.sg>
Keywords: panpsychism
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Reply-To: smoliar@iss.nus.sg (stephen smoliar)
Organization: Institute of Systems Science, NUS, Singapore
References: <1992Feb3.104210.8401@husc3.harvard.edu> <1992Feb4.015001.9719@nuscc.nus.sg> <1992Feb4.191756.8478@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1992 02:17:30 GMT

In article <1992Feb4.191756.8478@husc3.harvard.edu> zeleny@coolidge.harvard.edu
(Mikhail Zeleny) writes:
>
>There is no surer sign of militant mediocrity than vehement,
>unsubstantiated, unqualified denunciation of an entire school of thought.

I can think of one possible candidate for a better sign:  the substantiation
of a denunciation (of either a school of thought, an individual thought, or
a proponent) by one or more pointers to the literature (often vast) with
little indication of just what is being pointed at or why it is relevant
to the argument.  Perhaps I enjoy Minsky's provocations the way I enjoy
dissonance in music, while I find that your own outbursts tend to dismiss,
rather than incite.  I admire Searle's gift for rhetoric even when he uses
it to confuse rather than clarify.  Your own rhetoric, on the other hand,
is no longer refreshing but has become tedious, "pare un libro stampato"--just
like the raging of that poor nun seduced and abandoned by Don Giovanni.
-- 
Stephen W. Smoliar; Institute of Systems Science
National University of Singapore; Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Kent Ridge, SINGAPORE 0511
Internet:  smoliar@iss.nus.sg


