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Article 1767 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: smoliar@hilbert.iss.nus.sg (stephen smoliar)
Subject: Re: CONSCIOUSNESS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSION GROUP
Message-ID: <1991Nov30.050206.13420@nuscc.nus.sg>
Sender: usenet@nuscc.nus.sg
Organization: Institute of Systems Science, NUS, Singapore
References: <1991Nov28.043143.27277@cca.ucsf.edu>
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 1991 05:02:06 GMT

In article <1991Nov28.043143.27277@cca.ucsf.edu> bvi@cca.ucsf.edu (Ravi
Gomatam) writes:
>
>                          CONSCIOUSNESS AND SCIENCE 
>                              DISCUSSION GROUP
>
>The purpose of this group, which meets on the second Friday of every 
>month, is to explore the nature of consciousness and its 
>relationship to science, in such fields as biology, physics, 
>artificial intelligence, psychology and parapsychology.  Relevant 
>ideas from mathematics will also be discussed.  In general, a 
>minimum of graduate level training is assumed of the participants.  
>The meetings are free and open to all interested persons. 
>                         ---------------------------
>
>                         Friday, December 13, 1991
>
>                  "THE RHEOMODE OF LANGUAGE OF DAVID BOHM:
>         An Alternative Perspective on Consciousness and Cognition"
>
>    SPEAKER: Maxim I. Stamenov, Ph.D., Institute of the Bulgarian 
>Language, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria 
>
I had several reactions to seeing this announcement.  First, I wondered how
an announcement which had been intended for distribution to the Bay Area ended
up in Singapore!  (We get our news feed from Princeton--jvnc.net--which does
not explain very much.)  Second, I felt frustration at how far the Bay Area
is from Singapore.  Third, I realized that this was the FIRST TIME I had seen
an announcement of a talk about Bohm given by anyone other than Bohm himself!
(I heard Bohm give two talks at UCLA a couple of years ago.)  Fourth, I noted
that this special occasion was being delivered by a member of the Institute of
the Bulgarian Language.  All this set me to wondering (which is what bulletin
boards are for, after all).

It took attending to two lectures of Bohm to convince me that there might be
something interesting going on in there.  As a result of sitting through those
two lectures, I went out and bought myself copies of WHOLENESS AND THE
IMPLICATE ORDER and UNFOLDING MEANING.  However, I confess that all I
have done with the books thus far is track down the sections corresponding
to what I heard in the lectures.  I still have to give them both a "serious
read."

One question I would like to ask is whether or not anyone out there has done
so and has any advice to offer.  I really have no idea just how seriously Bohm
is taken in the circles of cognitive science.  The fact that I bought the books
at a local granola shop (whose book department still has serious material mixed
in with the detritus of the days of Flower Children) has at least raised
skeptical questions in my mind;  but curiosity still nags at me.  Since
I am going to be tied up working on a review of the two artificial life
conferences for another month or so, I would be interested in seeing any
technically sound reviews of Bohm's work.  (Also, I changed news.groups
to comp.ai.philosophy in the cross-posting list since I figured that would
be a better source of answers.)
-- 
Stephen W. Smoliar; Institute of Systems Science
National University of Singapore; Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Kent Ridge, SINGAPORE 0511
Internet:  smoliar@iss.nus.sg


