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Article 5832 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: forbis@carson.u.washington.edu (Gary Forbis)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Universe is a big place ,,,
Message-ID: <1992May22.014751.17847@u.washington.edu>
Date: 22 May 92 01:47:51 GMT
References: <1992May21.153839.15713@mp.cs.niu.edu> <1992May21.194426.21081@u.washington.edu> <1992May21.220532.17325@mp.cs.niu.edu>
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In article <1992May21.220532.17325@mp.cs.niu.edu> rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>In article <1992May21.194426.21081@u.washington.edu> forbis@carson.u.washington.edu (Gary Forbis) writes:
>>In article <1992May21.153839.15713@mp.cs.niu.edu> rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>
>>> However, Goedel's incompleteness theorem has NOTHING to say about human
>>>cognitive ability.  It is merely a red herring which some people like to
>>>drag up from time to time.
>
>>I think Goedel's incompeteness theorem has everything to do with the formal
>>aspects of human cognition.  How can you consistently believe otherwise?
>
> Which formal aspects of cognition do you have in mind?

Reason.

We have gone out of our way to formalize our reasoning and that which is
not formal is labeled "irrational".  I think humanity is most proud of its
castles in the sky and trys to sweep the rest under the rugs.  Without our
formal reasoning we do not know if our beliefs are consistent with each other
or form a complete system.

We know how to do integer arithmetic and a complete theory of cognition must 
include a theory of how we can do integer arithmetic.  Goedel's incompleteness 
theorem applies to our theories of cognition and this tells us something about 
our cognitive abilities. 

--gary forbis@u.washington.edu


