Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.ai.philosophy,sci.logic,sci.cognitive
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news4.ner.bbnplanet.net!news3.near.net!paperboy.wellfleet.com!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!gatech!news.mathworks.com!news.kei.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news!minsky
From: minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky)
Subject: Re: Intensions are legit; was FIRST order?
Message-ID: <1995Jul7.030116.13560@media.mit.edu>
Sender: news@media.mit.edu (USENET News System)
Cc: minsky
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory
References: <3terqs$lb5@ecl.wustl.edu> <1995Jul5.232857.24965@media.mit.edu> <3thmc3$g1p@ecl.wustl.edu>
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 03:01:16 GMT
Lines: 25
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai:31206 comp.ai.philosophy:29678 sci.logic:11949 sci.cognitive:8191

In article <3thmc3$g1p@ecl.wustl.edu> fritz@rodin.wustl.edu (Fritz
Lehmann) writes:

>     "Here" for me is sci.logic and comp.ai, and my answer is NO.  This
>thread is _supposed_ to be about intensional (versus extensional) logic.
>If my little mention of Indistinguishables _en_passant_ led
>inevitably  to trout
>ethology and emergent behaviors, please forgive me.

Reminds me of a story.  There once was a U.S.Senator who was proud of
his ignorance.  He once gave a "Golden Fleece" award to some
scientists who had an NSF grant to study, as he put it,  Lesbian
Seagulls.  The research was in fact about a question that must have
concerned all naturalists: even our veterinarian, who specializes in
birds, cannot tell us the sex of our parrot. 

Presumably, the birds may have this problem too, and until they
proceed with enough behavioral search activities, the other birds may
be indiscernable.  The research was in fact about that sort of thing.
When visual and chemical senses cannot distinguish, the animals may
have to fall back on behavioral sequences.




