From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!jupiter!morgan.ucs.mun.ca!nstn.ns.ca!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!apple!mips!swrinde!gatech!rutgers!rochester!yamauchi Tue Nov 26 12:32:00 EST 1991
Article 1549 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!jupiter!morgan.ucs.mun.ca!nstn.ns.ca!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!apple!mips!swrinde!gatech!rutgers!rochester!yamauchi
>From: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Daniel Dennett
Message-ID: <YAMAUCHI.91Nov24153007@magenta.cs.rochester.edu>
Date: 24 Nov 91 20:30:07 GMT
References: <1991Nov22.185012.21228@milton.u.washington.edu> <39652@dime.cs.umass.edu>
	<1991Nov23.001020.4844@milton.u.washington.edu>
	<39703@dime.cs.umass.edu>
Sender: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi)
Organization: University of Rochester
Lines: 29
Nntp-Posting-Host: magenta.cs.rochester.edu

>in-Reply-To: yodaiken@chelm.cs.umass.edu's message of 24 Nov 91 05:27:20 GMT

In article <39703@dime.cs.umass.edu> yodaiken@chelm.cs.umass.edu (victor yodaiken) writes:
>In article <1991Nov23.001020.4844@milton.u.washington.edu> monaghan@milton.u.washington.edu (Tracy Monaghan) writes:
>>In article <39652@dime.cs.umass.edu> yodaiken@chelm.cs.umass.edu (victor yodaiken) writes:
>>>Yup. That is, I'm not anti-machinery, but I'm against making human beings
>>>subservient to machinery. Thus, computers are fine, computers that
>>>control people are not fine. 
>>
>>Traffic lights aren't fine?

>I don't know about you, but traffic lights don't send me instructions.

Like "Go" and "Stop:?

It's actually worse than that...  Most people will obey this machine
even when it conflicts with their own senses and reasoning -- they
will stop at a red light even when it's absolutely clear that there is
no opposing traffic (or enforcement authority :-) close enough to
present a danger.

So why is obeying a timer-based light display okay, but obeying, for
example, a rule-based expert system not okay?
--
_______________________________________________________________________________

Brian Yamauchi				NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory
yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu		Robotic Intelligence Group
_______________________________________________________________________________


