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Path: utzoo!watmath!sunybcs!colonel
From: colonel@sunybcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Minsky on Mind(s)
Message-ID: <2093@sunybcs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Jan-87 13:55:54 EST
Article-I.D.: sunybcs.2093
Posted: Mon Jan 26 13:55:54 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Jan-87 06:21:43 EST
References: <463@mind.UUCP> <464@mind.UUCP>
Organization: Jack of Clubs Precision Instruments
Lines: 18
Keywords: processes, consciousness

>               ... It is a way for bodily tissues to get the attention
> of the reasoning centers.  Instead of just setting some "damaged
> tooth" bit, the injured nerve grabs the brain by the lapels and says
> "I'm going to make life miserable for you until you solve my problem."

This metaphor seems to suggest that consciousness wars with itself.  I
would prefer to say that the body grabs the brain by the handles, like
a hedge clipper or a geiger counter.  In other words, just treat the
mind as a tool, without any personality of its own.  After all, it's the
body that is real; the mind is only an abstraction.

By the way, it's well known that if the brain has a twist in it, it
needs only one handle.  Ask any topologist!
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel
CS: colonel@buffalo-cs
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