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Article 1353 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Daniel Dennett
Message-ID: <1991Nov17.032817.5528@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: 17 Nov 91 08:28:16 GMT
References: <1991Nov16.014015.1074@yarra-glen.aaii.oz.au> <1991Nov15.234645.5506@husc3.harvard.edu> <5706@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU>
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In article <5706@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> 
rohan@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Rohan Baxter) writes:

>In <1991Nov15.234645.5506@husc3.harvard.edu> 
>zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny) writes:

MZ:
>>(Not that the AI community has given any more courtesy to the arguments of
>>Searle, Penrose, and McGinn; so perhaps you are simply trying to honor me
>>by treating my modest efforts in the same disdainful manner your colleagues
>>have treated those of the above luminaries...)

RB:
>The historical explanations relating consciousness to the computational 
>properties of the brain didn't work and we have some current theoretical
>arguments (Penrose, Searle, McGinn) suggesting you cannot. 

Agreed.

RB:
>I wouldn't then conclude that only charlatans will come up with further
>explanations, particularly if they find the current theoretical 
>(non)-explanations faulty

This is most manifestly noot my claim; as far as I am concerned, the
problem with people like Dennett, aside from what I consider to be the
anti-humanistic orientation of their claims, is the intellectual dishonesty
with which they dismiss any argument that casts a doubt on the fundamental
assumptions of their project.  In particular, McGinn has stated very
clearly that AI theorists have failed to even address the issue of how
consciousness could, in principle, emerge from the computational properties
of the brain; yet, to the best of my knowledge, not a single AI theorist
has deigned to answer his objection.

RB:
>I would be skeptical about the explanation, considering the complexity of the
>problem and our current state of knowledge, but I would also sympathize with
>the originator for trying to tackle an important question.

I would be much more sympathetic with such attempts if I saw them conducted
in a responsible manner; in particular, one crucial aspect of scientific
responsibility I see violated is the academic honesty, in that the industry
seems to be driven by an insatiable appetite for grants and a shameless
desire for self-promotion, without ever pausing to reflect on, much less
challenge, its fundamental assumptions.  On the other hand, given the
jejune approach to the problem of consciousness embodied in the works of AI
luminaries, this should come as no surprise to anyone exposed to the
classical treatments of this question.

'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
: Qu'est-ce qui est bien?  Qu'est-ce qui est laid?         Harvard   :
: Qu'est-ce qui est grand, fort, faible...                 doesn't   :
: Connais pas! Connais pas!                                 think    :
:                                                             so     :
: Mikhail Zeleny                                                     :
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`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'


