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From: marty1@houdi.UUCP (M.BRILLIANT)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Goal of AI: where are we going?
Message-ID: <1368@houdi.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 9-Oct-87 11:32:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: houdi.1368
Posted: Fri Oct  9 11:32:59 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Oct-87 17:33:49 EDT
References: <178@usl> <549@csm9a.UUCP> <270@uwslh.UUCP> <15196@topaz.rutgers.edu> <2281@umn-cs.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel
Lines: 44
Summary: Back to reality, please.  The human mind is an imperfect tool.

In article <2281@umn-cs.UUCP>, ramarao@umn-cs.UUCP (Bindu Rama Rao) writes:
> 
> 	Is the Human mind flawed?
> 
> Can we pass such a judgement without knowing anything about the human mind?
> 
> Do we really understand how the mind works?

Let's draw an analogy.  You are driving an X-Brand car from Pittsburgh to
Atlanta and halfway there it bursts into flame.  Without knowing how the
car works you can conclude it was flawed.

Mr X. goes to an employment interview and gets angry or flustered and
says something that causes him to be rejected.  Without knowing how his
mind works you can conclude it was flawed.

> Aren't we trying to model the mind because we are in awe of all the
> power the mind posesses?

Of course we are.  But saying the mind is enormously powerful is not
contradicted by saying it's not perfect.  A car with a big engine is
enormously powerful and almost certainly not perfect.

> Is the mind flawed just because humans make decisions based on
> their emotional involvement? Isn't the mind used for analysis only
> while emotions play a major part in formulating the final decision?

Factually, we know the mind is flawed because we observe that it does
not do what we expect of it.  As a hypothesis, we can test the idea
that it is flawed because of the action of what we call emotions.  As
a further hypothesis, we can also test the idea that emotions motivate
all human activity.  Personally, I like both those hypotheses.

Question of definition here: do we agree that emotion, reason,
consciousness, will, etc., are all functions of the mind?

> 	Let's not hastily dismiss the human mind as flawed.

Who's dismissing it?  I know my car is flawed, but I can't afford to
dismiss it.  I'm not dismissing my mind either.  How could I?  :-)

M. B. Brilliant					Marty
AT&T-BL HO 3D-520	(201)-949-1858
Holmdel, NJ 07733	ihnp4!houdi!marty1