Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,comp.ai,comp.robotics
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!pipex!uknet!festival!castle.ed.ac.uk!cam
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Subject: Re: Minsky's new article
References: <gyroCysG7u.8Hs@netcom.com> <1994Nov7.010450.26534@news.media.mit.edu> <39vo5u$3fv@trog.dra.hmg.gb>
Message-ID: <CzDyIz.3Ms@festival.ed.ac.uk>
Sender: news@festival.ed.ac.uk (remote news read deamon)
Organization: University of Edinburgh
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 00:25:47 GMT
Lines: 24
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.philosophy:22124 comp.ai:25253 comp.robotics:15400

In article <39vo5u$3fv@trog.dra.hmg.gb> wagray@taz.dra.hmg.gb writes:
>>gyro@netcom.com (Scott L. Burson) writes:

>>>But replacing the brain with a piece of artificial hardware?  No.  Not soon,
>>>not ever, and I think it *does* sound silly. 

>The AI community has shown no signs of being able to produce a machine 
>with the intelligence of an ant. (Not even a stupid ant). This is why the 
>brain replacement idea sounds silly.

It's a thought experiment in order to explore concepts. Whether or not
it is technically feasible is quite irrelevant. The point is to
explore the in-principle implications of concepts. No doubt you would
also dismiss as completely silly the idea of two people sitting on top
of opposite ends of a very long train, signalling to one another with
torches and mirrors, while the the train accelerates up to close to
the speed of light. In practice of course it is silly. You don't need
to consult railway technology to know that. But Einstein chose it as a
useful way of exploring the concept of simultaneity; which it is.
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205
"The mind reigns, but does not govern" -- Paul Valery
