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From: dorettas@iddic.UUCP (Doretta Schrock)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: cognitive-engineering, connectionism, etc. ...really flame-ola
Message-ID: <2246@iddic.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Oct-85 20:50:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: iddic.2246
Posted: Mon Oct 21 20:50:43 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Oct-85 08:22:45 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 44

[pseudo-bug eater]

I'm always excited when a new posting appears in net.cog-eng.
Will it be about some new connectionist theory?  Maybe some
theoretical discussion of brain vs. computer?  Or maybe a comment
on a new model of perception, attention, cognition, or memory?

but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

Recently this group has been degenerating into a clone of net.micro.mac,
which I (and many others, judging by the volume) read.  PLEASE keep your
discussions of DRI vs. Apple (and etcetera) OVER THERE (or preferably, 
in your head)!  There is so much going on in AI, cognitive engineering, 
neurology, and cognitive science (to name but a few), that we should be 
able to generate some interesting and useful dialog without stooping to
discuss the same things over and over and over and over and over again.

For example:

Has anyone else read _Godel, Escher, Bach_? Or Pylyshyn's _Computation and
Cognition_?  Or _The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction_?  What did
you think?  

Are the emerging connectionist theories going to revise our view of AI and
BI (biological intelligence)?  Should we all junk our present computers and
languages for big multiprocessors?  Will examining the way the Aplysia works
really help us understand cognition (I read that you folks at ATT were doing
something along these lines...or was that a wildly unfounded rumor?)?

What is the best way to get a handle on what's going on in cog.eng. today?
What should you study if you are in school, or what should you read if you
are out?  Will those of us without PhD's have a chance at any juicy industrial/
R&D jobs (no snickering from the grad students)?

I could go on, but that ought to give some of you with fertile minds someplace
to start.  Really, this wasn't meant so much as a flame as it was a plea for
more quality and less mediocrity in what's taking up space in this newsgroup.

If you didn't "n" already, I thank you for your attention.  Please send all
flames to /dev/null or the round bit bucket, whichever is closer.

	Looking forward to some truly dazzling dialog,

		Mike Sellers  <--note the difference in name from above