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Article 1338 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: millerjx@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Justin W. Miller)
Newsgroups: alt.postmodern,talk.philosophy.misc,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Is "logical analysis" worth knowing?
Keywords: ai,ethics,butterfly,zombie,logic
Message-ID: <1991Nov16.011947.29575@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
Date: 16 Nov 91 01:19:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: ucunix.1991Nov16.011947.29575
References: <HFo8aB2w164w@depsych.Gwinnett.COM> <9111142140.18191@mydog.UUCP> <centaur.690241662@cc.gatech.edu>
Sender: Justin Miller  millerjx@ucunix.san.uc.edu
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati
Lines: 64

In article <centaur.690241662@cc.gatech.edu> centaur@terminus.gatech.edu (Anthony G. Francis) writes:
>gcf@mydog.UUCP (Gordon Fitch) writes:
>>In awakening in the universe, "Man" finds himself surrounded by
>>many things, including butterflies and the Eternal.  Generally,
>>he seeks to stick these things on a pin and put them up on a
>>wall -- to get power over them by killing them.  He runs from
>>butterfly nets to the Crucifixion, _nailing_things_down_.
>
>>Having done so, however, he finds that his preserved objects lack
>>a quality of things still not on the wall -- the quality of
>>vitality, unpredictability, imagination, spontaneity.  What to
>>do?  One is to make the dead things move as if they were alive.
>>Hence the myths, so powerful in our time, of the golem, 
>>the zombie, the robot, and Frankenstein's monster.  
>
>>One of the things "Man" was able to kill was language.  Some
>>elements of language, like "No", have probably been around for
>>millions of years, and, like rock, are very stable.  Other
>>words could be frozen through religious discourse, especially if
>>backed up by violence.  Having found very stable parts of 
>>language, like the integers, and having killed other elements, 
>>it was possible to make linguistic structures that had the 
>>permanence of stone idols.  These could be worshiped.  However, 
>>like the idols made of stone, they were dead.  
>
>>Just as material things can be made to simulate the movement of
>>living things, so killed language can be made to simulate living
>>language, that is, dialectic.  At least by the time of Pythagoras, 
>>this project was well under way.  Arithmetic, geometry, and logic 
>>appeared.  Through the centuries, as each zombie failed, it was
>>replaced by a better and more subtle one.  Resolution....  And
>>meanwhile, the religious and political power of privileged speech
>>was not forgotten.  The zombie was said to be but obscurely
>>manifested on Earth, but to rule in glory from an empyrean realm;
>>even to create the universe as sort of degraded reflection of its 
>>forms.
>
>>Who knows?  The project may yet succeed, and justify its
>>acolytes.  A prophet has already told them what they shall see: a
>>being which is so like them that they cannot tell it apart.  
>>Gordon Fitch          *        ...!mydog.panix.com!gcf
>
>I'm sorry. I can't convince myself that this argument has any 
>validity. In fact, I can't convince myself that it really means anything.
>I do not think that it is appropriate to appropriate the metaphors of
>hunting and killing, trophies and idols, worship and religion, and
>"real life" and "zombies" and apply them to the process of the development
>of language and the development of complex linguistic systems. These
>are clever metaphors with pretty images, devoid of any useful content.
>--
>Anthony G. Francis, Jr.  - Georgia Tech {Atl.,GA 30332}
>Internet Mail Address: 	 - centaur@cc.gatech.edu
>UUCP Address:		 - ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!gt4864b
>-------------------------------Quote of the post------------------------------- 
>"Just take the money and run, and if they give you a hassle, blow them away."
>	- collected in a verbal protocol for the Bankrobber AI Project
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would have to agree with Anthony's statement, in the exact words he put it.
I, too, fail to understand how this type of philosophy is concerned with AI
EXCEPT where the AI begins to develop human qualities-- and that is a mere
technicality worthy of only brief mention. That's my analysis, anyway. True, I
find the first statement interesting, but better left to alt.philosophy.
-justin


