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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxi!houxm!ihnp4!ihuxv!portegys
From: portegys@ihuxv.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: the Halting problem
Message-ID: <565@ihuxv.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 2-Oct-83 04:42:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxv.565
Posted: Sun Oct  2 04:42:26 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Oct-83 12:34:40 EDT
Organization: BTL Naperville, Il.
Lines: 21


I think that the answer to the halting problem in intelligent
entities is that there must exist a mechanism for telling it
whether its efforts are getting it anywhere, i.e. something that
senses its internal state and says if things are getting better,
worse, or whatever.  Normally for humans, if a "loop" were to
begin, it should soon be broken by concerns like "I'm hungry
now, let's eat".  No amount of cogitation makes that feeling
go away.

I would rather call this mechanism need than emotion, since I
think that some emotions are learned.

So then, needs supply two uses to intelligence: (1) they supply
a direction for the learning which is a necessary part of
intelligence, and (2) they keep the intelligence from getting
bogged down in fruitless cogitation.

             Tom Portegys
             Bell Labs, IH
             ihuxv!portegys