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From: smeagol@eng.umd.edu (Kenneth A. Hennacy)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Emergent properties (was: What AI is exactly)
Message-ID: <1990Oct1.002909.21899@eng.umd.edu>
Date: 1 Oct 90 00:29:09 GMT
References: <26FA3460.1C7D@marob.masa.com> <3918@se-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> <8581@helios.TAMU.EDU>
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In article <8581@helios.TAMU.EDU> n025fc@tamuts.tamu.edu (Kevin Weller) writes:
>
>Paul Davies puts it best when he asks if a Beethoven symphony is nothing
>but a collection of notes or if a Dickins novel is nothing more than a
>collection of words (*).....
>
>The human brain is one of the most (if not *the* most) complex organized
>system presently known to exist. 

The human brain could be likened to the book, 
i.e. it is nothing more than a collection of such 
and such.  To say that its the most complex system means 
something only when there is something that attaches a
meaning to it. Just the same as the book, it doesn't have
any meaning or complexity to it until one associates a 
meaning or complexity with it. 

So, we are the measure of our own complexity, i.e. some
other creature may not attach any significance at all to
what we do, "think", etc.  This creature does not have to
be a rabbit, it could be one that attaches complexity to
things which we have yet to be aware of, or appreciate.  

So, is it us or our society that creates this complexity?  I
mean, I could scribble a whole bunch of stuff like 

#$^%@$*!@#$()@#%(&#$^T@#($#()##@$!@#$(!#!@#

which to me, could mean alot, but to you means nothing,        
therefore, it would be devoid of complexity.

Ken Hennacy