From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!utgpu!pindor Tue Nov 24 10:51:14 EST 1992
Article 7571 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!utgpu!pindor
>From: pindor@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Andrzej Pindor)
Subject: Re: grounding and the entity/environment boundary
Message-ID: <BxIHDM.C19@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Organization: UTCS Public Access
References: <720582638@sheol.UUCP> <1992Nov3.181425.8089@spss.com> <720937346@sheol.UUCP> <1992Nov9.221842.18550@spss.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 17:46:34 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.221842.18550@spss.com> markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder) writes:
>In article <720937346@sheol.UUCP> throopw@sheol.UUCP (Wayne Throop) writes:
>.................
>>Consider an
>>analog of a pre-grounded computer conversing on a teletype.  Say, a
>>person in a SDT, except with the ability to twitch one finger to send
>>morse code and feel morse-encoded vibrations applied to some point on
>>the skin.  I see no fundamental reason why that person cannot remain
>>sane, and further, remain grounded in the use of the morse signals.
>>That is, I'd claim that this person is plausibly both statically and
>>dynamically grounded, though clearly this form of dynamic grounding
>>will NOT ground new experiences AS WELL (as richly) as the statically
>>grounded material.
>
>And I see no guarantee that the guy *will* remain sane-- or grounded-- 
>in circumstances so far removed from those evolution has fitted him for.
>But I don't see any way to resolve this by argument alone; somebody's
>just got to try it.
>
There is some evidence which may shed a certain amount of light on this
problem. There were (are ?) some unlucky souls put into nearly-SDT 
conditions - prisoners kept in dark cells, perhaps chained to a wall, for
years. My understanding is that going insane is a very common affliction
in these circumstances.
..............

Andrzej Pindor

-- 
Andrzej Pindor
University of Toronto
Computing Services
pindor@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca


