From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!rpi!scott.skidmore.edu!psinntp!psinntp!dg-rtp!sheol!throopw Tue Nov 24 10:51:29 EST 1992
Article 7592 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: throopw@sheol.UUCP (Wayne Throop)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: grounding and the entity/environment boundary
Message-ID: <721458270@sheol.UUCP>
Date: 11 Nov 92 02:11:49 GMT
References: <1992Nov10.161749.20605@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Lines: 19

: From: rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert)
: Message-ID: <1992Nov10.161749.20605@mp.cs.niu.edu>
: Before you can call it a tradeoff, you must explain why it would be
: beneficial to clutter the brain with huge volumes of worthless trivia.

Hmmmmm?  First of all, the "worth" of a memory isn't in the memory
itself, but in its use in later contexts.  Therefore there IS no memory
with zero worth, just memories with low probabilities of later
encountering a relevant context.   Second, the term "clutter" implies
some cost of the memories being there, as does "huge volumes".

Thus, Neil is already talking about trading off the cost of "clutter"
and the unwieldiness of "huge volume" against the later "worth" of the
memory, and thus supplies the explanation Neil demands.  In fact, even
if the "worth" IS zero, this worth is being traded off against the cost
of the memory.  (Unless, of course, I'm misunderstanding Neil's meaning
in the first place.)
--
Wayne Throop  ...!mcnc!dg-rtp!sheol!throopw


