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From: laska@netcom.com (Andrew Laska)
Subject: Re: Turtles All the Way Down
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Date: Sat, 22 Oct 1994 22:28:00 GMT
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Harry Erwin (herwin@vanish) wrote:

: Note that I'm trying to avoid arguments from chaotic dynamics (weak
: based on the Grebogi and Ott results) and from computability (the brain
: as a Turing machine), since neither show the brain doing anything that a
: computer cannot do.

: --
: Harry Erwin

Why do you avoid such chaotic arguments? I don't know how many reading 
this have seen the report by Hayes, Grebogi, Ott, and Mark in Phys Rev 
Letters 73, 1781 (1994). The letter describes the first experimental 
evidence of communication with chaos. One can easily imagine a situation 
where a "brain" uses an analagous method. In fact the "kicking" of the 
parameter as proposed by Ott, Grebogi, et el is something that a computer 
may not be able to do yet the system could still produce coherent 
communication. Secondly this kicking could be controlled by some complex 
indirect feedback similar to the way in which human consciousness does 
not have access to the rules which alter it.

Of course we have no evidence that this approach will be successful but 
it has potential.

Andrew Laska

