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Article 7052 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: fb0m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Franklin Boyle)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Grounding
Message-ID: <kelo3fG00iUz03mSkp@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 28 Sep 92 17:29:15 GMT
Organization: Cntr for Design of Educational Computing, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 25

Andrzej Pindor writes:

> OK, he [Hawking] is not strictly limited to TT capabilities only, but 
> wouldn't you agree that his capabilities are closer to TT than TTT?
> True, he did not always suffer his current physical handicap, but 
> according to Stephen Harnad it is not important which way do the external 
> experiences reach the brain (mind), TTT is crucial for grounding. Hawking 
> lost most of his TTT capability, has he lost most of his grounding?

TTT is a behavioral test which is presumably based on the capacities of
a fully functional human being, though I'm not actually sure it 
has to be (for Harnad).  One could have a restricted version of the test 
in which some (but not all) capabilities are absent.

Remember, grounding is both efferent *and* afferent.  As far as I know
Hawking can still see, hear and feel without any difficulty.  Only his
deliberate motor control is, in essence, non-existent. So, I would say
he has *not* lost most of his grounding.

Also, it *is* important to Harnad how external experiences reach the 
brain (if that's what you mean by "which way"; i.e., in constrast to 
different afferent pathways). It must be through analog transformations 
of the sensory input.

-Frank


