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From: jmc@Gang-of-Four.usenet (John McCarthy)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Put in some effort (was: emergent properties)
Message-ID: <JMC.90Oct8080206@Gang-of-Four.usenet>
Date: 8 Oct 90 12:02:06 GMT
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In-Reply-To: turpin@cs.utexas.edu's message of 1 Oct 90 22:37:58 GMT

I never said that a thermostat "comprehends what it means to be hot".
I said that the thermostat "believes the room to be too hot", or rather
that the thermostat can usefully be ascribed that belief.  Comprehending
what it means to be hot is a far more complex property than believing
the room to be too hot on particular occasions, and artificial systems
that can usefully be ascribed the former don't (so far as I know)
exist today.