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From: gilbert@aimmi.UUCP (Gilbert Cockton)
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: Technology Review article
Message-ID: <716@aimmi.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Feb-86 13:14:38 EST
Article-I.D.: aimmi.716
Posted: Mon Feb 10 13:14:38 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Feb-86 06:12:35 EST
References: <7500002@ada-uts.UUCP> <15030@rochester.UUCP>
Reply-To: gilbert@aimmi.UUCP (Gilbert Cockton)
Organization: Heriot-Watt/Strathclyde Alvey MMI Unit, Scotland
Lines: 35

In article <15030@rochester.UUCP> lab@rochester.UUCP (Lab Manager(Brad Miller)) writes:
>......... An appropriate rebuttal to these two self-styled
>philosophers:
>"In 3000 years, Philosophy has still not lived up to its promises and
>there's no reason to think it ever will."

Which is why I'm so sceptical about the grander claims for AI.
I'm unable to see how having faster computers, smarter algorithms and
fancier versions of LISP will allow us to crack problems that have
dogged philosophers and others for centuries. I accept that IKBS
techniques do allow a person or group to encode (some/most of/all)
their expertise into an interactive program. However given the
hard problems of ontology and epistemology, I cannot believe that
the expertise's status as knowledge (as opposed to belief) and a
representation of `reality' can ever be determined on line.

The problems of philosophy remain problems of philosophy regardless
of any new modes of communication and information encoding that can
be developed. One can be ignorant of the distinction between recursion
and iteration and still find gaping holes in much current AI research.
Furthermore, one can pick up any basic philosophy text and find
many accepted arguments which provide an education as to why these
holes seem unclosable.

Has any inductive system come up with a refutation of Hume's argument
against induction? One example will do me!

You can encode some of the people some of the time, but ...

-- 
	Gilbert Cockton, Alvey MMI Unit, Scotland 
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