Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!ukc!strath-cs!glasgow!gilbert
From: gilbert@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Gilbert Cockton)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Acting irrationally (was Re: Free Will & Self Awareness)
Message-ID: <1215@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Date: 23 May 88 09:14:15 GMT
References: <770@onion.cs.reading.ac.uk> <1177@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <5499@venera.isi.edu> <180@proxftl.UUCP> <32403@linus.UUCP>
Reply-To: gilbert@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Gilbert Cockton)
Organization: Comp Sci, Glasgow Univ, Scotland
Lines: 20

In article <32403@linus.UUCP> bwk@mbunix (Kort) writes:
>We are destined to remain unaware of vast portions of our civilization's 
>collective information base.
And so therefore are computers!  Still want to get mind on silicon?
Only if it's information free?  Anyone remember GPS? Can you get
anything on without requiring some knowledge (remember expert systems?)

A computer will be beyond programming whereever its input bandwidth is
substantially narrower than ours.  It will just take far too long to
get the knowledge base in, except for small well-defined areas of
technical knowledge with a high pay off (e.g. Prospector, genetic
engineering advisors).  Thus the potential of AI is obviously limited 
even ignoring formalisation problems related to the large area of
non-technical knowledge which underlies most social interaction outside
of high-tech. work.
-- 
Gilbert Cockton, Department of Computing Science,  The University, Glasgow
	gilbert@uk.ac.glasgow.cs <europe>!ukc!glasgow!gilbert

	     The proper object of the study of humanity is humans, not machines