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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decwrl!williams@kirk.DEC (John Williams 223-3402)
From: williams@kirk.DEC (John Williams 223-3402)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: The intelligent system
Message-ID: <304@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Sep-85 11:43:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.304
Posted: Wed Sep  4 11:43:26 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Sep-85 09:38:12 EDT
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	The mind is intimately linked to the brain. It is
important to remember that the difference between mind and brain
is something that is defined, and not something that is
necessarily intrinsic to nature. 

	I don't think it is sufficient to say the mind is 
something that can exist outside of the brain in something like, 
let's say, a machine. Machines, and in particular, computers, 
will most likely develop an entirely different kind of 
intelligence. I seriously doubt that a machine capable of 
supporting a mind, as we define it, will naturally evolve. The 
artificial minds that will be developed in the future will be 
different because the technology is different, and the ways these 
technologies are optimized are different.

	A perhaps better definition of the difference between 
mind and brain would be to consider the brain to be the static 
structure, whereas the mind would be the dynamic structure. There 
is a optimal balance between mind and brain. An attractive 
analogy can be drawn between the mind and software, and the brain 
and hardware. Anything that is performed by the brain could 
theoretically be performed by the mind, and vice-versa. Through 
the natural course of evolution, however, an optimal balance is
sought. ( I will reiterate that optimum in reality expresses a 
margin, due to the dynamic nature of evolution ) The two key 
poles are performance and adaptability ( reliability ). The more 
brain, the greater the performance, the more mind, the greater 
the adaptability ( ability to function in a loosely controlled 
environment ).

	A person with a great brain would tend to be a 
specialist, whereas a person with a great mind would tend to be 
generalist. We all know the difference, a specialist knows 
everything about nothing, and a generalist knows nothing about 
everything.

						John Williams

	Any system is incomplete without an observer