Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
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Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!utcsstat!laura
From: laura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: AI and Human Intelligence
Message-ID: <950@utcsstat.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Aug-83 11:53:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsstat.950
Posted: Thu Aug 25 11:53:10 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Aug-83 08:25:03 EDT
References: <4473@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Toronto, Canada
Lines: 41

Goodness, I stopped reading net.ai a while ago, but had an ai
problem to submit and decided to read this in case the question
had already been asked and answered. News here only lasts for
2 weeks, but things have changed...

at any rate, you are all discussing here what I am discussing in mail
to AI types (none of whom mentioned that this was going on here, the
cretins! ;-) ). I am discusisng bigotry by mail to AI folk.

I have a problem in furthering my discussion. When I mentioned it
I got the same response from 2 of my 3 AI folk, and am waiting for
the same one from the third. i gather it is a fundamental AI
sort of problem.

I maintain that 'a problem' and 'a discription of a problem'
are not the same thing. Thus 'discrimination' is a problem,
but the word 'nigger' is not. 'Nigger' is a word which describes
the problem of discrimination. One may decide not to use the
word 'nigger' but abolishing the word only gets rid of one
discription of the problem, but not the problem itself.

If there were no words to express discrimination, and discrimination
existed, then words would be created (or existing words would be
perverted) to express discrimination. Thus language can be counted
upon to reflect the attitudes of society, but changing the language
is not an effective way to change society.


This position is not going over very well. I gather that there is
some section of the AI community which believes that language
(the description of a problem) *is* the problem.  I am thus
reduced to saying, "oh no it isnt't you silly person" but am left
holding the bag when they start quoting from texts. I can bring
out anthropology and linguistics and they can get out some
epistomology and Knowledge Rep[resentation, but the discussion
isn't going anywhere...

can anybody out there help?

laura creighton
utzoo!utcsstat!laura