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Article 1844 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: silber@orfeo.Eng.Sun.COM (Eric Silber)
Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Thermodynamic analogies
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Date: 27 Nov 91 00:55:34 GMT
References: <JMC.91Nov17135110@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> <1991Nov17.190935.5546@husc3.harvard.edu> <YAMAUCHI.91Nov26024948@indigo.cs.rochester.edu> <1991Nov26.135953.5926@husc3.harvard.edu> <YAMAUCHI.91Nov26184949@indigo.cs.rochester.edu>
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 A human brain-mind-thing is not an abstract machine, it is an actual
 machine, that is it is a physical system of a particular extent which
 is embedded in a larger system.  Just as we can say that in spite of the
 fact that
 the laws of thermodynamics imply an inexorable global increase in entropy,
 locally, entropy may decrease in a biological entity at the expense of 
 extracting energy from the surroundings, we can also say , by analogy,
 that a brain-mind-thing , although it is a finite, circumscribed machine,
 attains/exhibits certain properties ,by virtue of its interaction with its
 infinite surroundings,  which (properties)
 could not be inferred/deduced/computed by
 by it as an isolated system.  The fact that the inputs are taken from
 an infinite, aleatory set compensates for the fact that there is only
 a "C-90" length tape playing in the cassette!!

 


