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From: scott@swatsun (Jay Scott)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Is the human mind flawed?
Message-ID: <1320@tulum.swatsun.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Oct-87 12:55:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: tulum.1320
Posted: Sun Oct 11 12:55:37 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 13-Oct-87 00:35:55 EDT
References: <178@usl> <549@csm9a.UUCP> <270@uwslh.UUCP> <1330@houdi.UUCP> <1271@isl1.ri.cmu.edu>
Organization: Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA
Lines: 17
Summary: it's philosophy

Here's how I think about it:

"Flawed" I take to mean "not-good in some particular respect."  And "good"
does not have a fixed, absolute meaning.  If you ask, "Is this rock good?"
I have to reply, "What for?"  It may be good used as a piece of gravel but
bad used as a gemstone!

So in the same way, you may ask "Is the human mind flawed?"  I answer
"Depends.  Is there something you wanted to use one for?"  If you think
minds just are, then "flawed" doesn't apply (neither does "perfect").
But if you want to use a mind to, say, do math, you're likely to be annoyed
at its tendency to make mistakes--a flaw, for your purposes.

--
Your opinion may vary.  I can only define words as I use them, not as you may.

				Jay Scott
			 ...bpa!swatsun!scott