From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!psych.toronto.edu!christo Mon Mar  9 18:34:12 EST 1992
Article 4165 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green)
Subject: Re: Reference,Angels,InfoDaemons,& so on
Message-ID: <1992Feb29.161037.7972@psych.toronto.edu>
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
References: <1992Feb25.182526.12698@oracorp.com> <18595@castle.ed.ac.uk> <kqtmppINNjj9@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: Sat, 29 Feb 1992 16:10:37 GMT

In article <kqtmppINNjj9@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> silber@orfeo.Eng.Sun.COM (Eric Silber) writes:
>In article <18595@castle.ed.ac.uk> cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:
>>
>>On the other hand, I think it remains true that what a program does is
>>to transform some input data into some output data, and that this
>>transformation can only be purely syntactic. This seems to me to pull
>>the rug out from under the "English reply". Anyone care to comment?
>
> It's like medieval disputes about how many angels can fit on a pinhead.

Ah, when in doubt, accuse the other of being an anachronism. That'll
show 'em! Actually Medieval disputes about how many angels can fit on
the head of a pin were instrumental to our current understanding of
the mathematical notion of infinity.

> When theory and practice have advanced another few hundred years,
> these arguments will be viewed either as angelic anachronisms OR as
> the foundations upon which a race of thinking,feeling,living 
> non-biological machines was built.  ... excuse me ... the King's men
> are in the courtyard collecting head taxes, I have to go now, ...
> the crusades are on you know!

And then, there's always the "There's always the future" argument, used
to such devastating effect by the Churchlands whenever they don't have
a real argument. Very clever.

-- 
Christopher D. Green                christo@psych.toronto.edu
Psychology Department               cgreen@lake.scar.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto
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