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Article 1849 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Xref: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca rec.arts.books:11090 sci.philosophy.tech:1281 comp.ai.philosophy:1849
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>From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.philosophy.tech,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Zeleny (was Re: Searle
Message-ID: <12551@pitt.UUCP>
Date: 4 Dec 91 13:54:41 GMT
References: <1991Dec2.110629.6077@husc3.harvard.edu> <1991Dec2.195705.12427@milton.u.washington.edu> <1991Dec3.122946.6107@husc3.harvard.edu>
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In article <1991Dec3.122946.6107@husc3.harvard.edu> zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny) writes:
>
>It is completely clear to me that in writing these words I communicate with
>other people.  I assume that at least some members of my audience will
>treat my words as meaningful, and interpret them in a way that would
>result in certain mental states.  Since mental states are private, and
>hence mutually incomparable, I assume that to the extent that I succeed in
>conveying any meaning to these people, the nature of this meaning must be
>mind-independent. 
>
Well, yes, and no.  Your success in communicating to someone else 
depends to a large extent on the similarity of both the neural
hardware (brains) and programming (experience) between you and them.
You might have a lot more trouble communicating the above thought
to an idiot (no cracks, INFIDEL), than to a philosopher.  You might
also have more trouble conveying it to even a very bright Australian
aborigine (raised in the bush).  It also depends on your skill at
using language.  But I don't see what all this has to do with
whether the conveyor or conveyee is human or machine.
-- 
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Gordon Banks  N3JXP        | "When in danger, or in doubt
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu     |  Run in circles, scream and shout" --Heinlein
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