From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!uknet!keele!nott-cs!ucl-cs!news Wed Sep 16 21:22:42 EDT 1992
Article 6857 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: G.Joly@cs.ucl.ac.uk (Gordon Joly)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: What do I do with it?
Message-ID: <2989@ucl-cs.uucp>
Date: 10 Sep 92 14:57:33 GMT
Sender: news@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Lines: 38

I am a terminator. writes:
 > |>  > Let's say I want to build an intelligent machine. What's it to be
 > |>  > used for? Can this machine out its role in the universe?
 > |> Well, let's just say, for sake of argument, that it has already been
 > |> done.
 > |> 
 > |> 
 > |> Remember ``Deep Thought''?
 > 
 > Do you mean the machine is supposed to think for a while?
 > 
 > Henry Choy
 > choy@cs.usask.ca

Deep Thought was a machine. It was asked to formulate a philosophical
question, to which the answer was given, after many years. The
question had been "What is the meaning of Life, The Universe and
Everything?", but the answer given was far too brief, and when asked,
Deep Thought said they had not asked the correct question.

Well, they said, what is the correct question to ask? Aha! said Deep
Thought, that is a tricky one. Can you do it, they said. No, Deep
Thought replied, but I can design a system that can. Can you do that
for us now? Yes, Deep Thought said. And he called it "The Earth".

The program Deep Thought designed is running now. It may soon come to
its conclusion. 

See you in Rickmansworth, in about 5 minutes? Bring some peanuts and
some beer!

Gordon.

____

Gordon Joly      Phone  +44 71 387 7050 ext 3703      FAX  +44 71 387 1397
Internet: G.Joly@cs.ucl.ac.uk        UUCP: ...!{uunet,uknet}!ucl-cs!G.Joly
Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street, LONDON WC1E 6BT


