Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!aplcen!jhunix!ins_akaa
From: ins_akaa@jhunix.UUCP (Ken Arromdee)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: Mark Leeper's third "Most Human" article
Message-ID: <2054@jhunix.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 2-Mar-86 14:21:09 EST
Article-I.D.: jhunix.2054
Posted: Sun Mar  2 14:21:09 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Mar-86 04:00:29 EST
References: <4474MIQ@PSUVMA>
Reply-To: ins_akaa@jhunix.ARPA (Ken Arromdee)
Organization: TARDIS Repairs, Inc.
Lines: 20

In article <4474MIQ@PSUVMA> miq@psuvm.bitnet.UUCP writes:
...
>    There is a major hitch here-- the fact that a piece of logical machinery,
>in doing the most logical thing, is perfectly predictable.  This would spell
>doom in any battle or conflict, whether in space or on a chessboard.

No.  There are situations where the most logical thing to do is to make a ran-
dom decision, for precisely the reason that it's less predictable--making the
unpredictable decision has a higher probablilty of producing the desired
result than any predictable decision.  If a machine makes a predictable 
decision in such a situation, it isn't "doing the most logical thing".
-- 
"We are going to give a little something, a few little years more, to
socialism, because socialism is defunct.  It dies all by iself.  The bad thing
is that socialism, being a victim of its... Did I say socialism?" -Fidel Castro

Kenneth Arromdee
BITNET: G46I4701 at JHUVM and INS_AKAA at JHUVMS
CSNET: ins_akaa@jhunix.CSNET              ARPA: ins_akaa%jhunix@hopkins.ARPA
UUCP: {allegra!hopkins, seismo!umcp-cs, ihnp4!whuxcc} !jhunix!ins_akaa