From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!psych.toronto.edu!christo Wed Apr 22 12:03:49 EDT 1992
Article 5126 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!psych.toronto.edu!christo
>From: christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green)
Subject: Re: SHRDLU's mind
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
References: <1992Apr13.151731.22702@oracorp.com>
Message-ID: <1992Apr17.013517.15215@psych.toronto.edu>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 01:35:17 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.151731.22702@oracorp.com> daryl@oracorp.com (Daryl McCullough) writes:
>christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher D. Green) writes:
>
>> Surely whether SHRDLU, thermostats, and rocks have minds is an
>> empirical question.
>
>Surely not. It is a philosophical question, which is the reason that
>we have this newsgroup. It isn't an empirical question because it
>doesn't have any observable consequences.
>
Surely so. To be empirical, a question must be a matter of fact, not just
of definition. Surely it is a matter of fact whether or not SHRDLU,
thermostats, and rocks have minds, just as it is a matter of whether
they have this, that, or the other chemical composition, number of
arms, and whether they go to church on Sunday.

-- 
Christopher D. Green                christo@psych.toronto.edu
Psychology Department               cgreen@lake.scar.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto
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