Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ncar!gatech!purdue!decwrl!hplabs!hpda!hpwala!cfisun!ima!mirror!rayssd!raybed2!linus!mbunix!bwk From: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry W. Kort) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: The limitations of logic Summary: Zeroing in on the subject of contemplation Keywords: Simulated Brain, Simulated Thought, Contemplation Message-ID: <43269@linus.UUCP> Date: 27 Dec 88 23:54:05 GMT References: <9020@bcsaic.UUCP> <1628@buengc.BU.EDU> <42836@linus.UUCP> <42962@linus.UUCP> <1902@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU> Sender: news@linus.UUCP Reply-To: bwk@mbunix (Barry Kort) Organization: Eudamonics Unlimited, Serotonin Heights, ME Lines: 29 In article <1902@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU> geb@cadre.dsl.pittsburgh.edu (Gordon E. Banks) rejoins the discussion on model brains. He begins with the question at hand: >>OK. Let's say the simulated brain considers itself to be a >>self-directed free thinker. The question remains. How does >>it select the subject of its contemplation? > >Possibly we will need to understand better the control mechanisms >that direct attention in the real brain in order to properly >design an artificial one. Both parietal and frontal lobe play >roles in directing conscious attention. The frontal lobes >have a role in assessing competing stimuli, and the parietal >lobes are needed in order to attend to them. I suspect that >more abstract topics for contemplation also compete for attention >by the more serially behaving conscious. The exact mechanisms >aren't clear to me at this time. Good. Then we have a candidate subject for contemplation. I now propose that awareness of an unsolved problem becomes a stimulus in the contest for brain time and attention. If this theory is correct, then we can move on to the selection criteria for choosing the winning puzzle which captivates and fascinates the roving mind. But perhaps I move too fast. Perhaps there are other stimuli besides awareness of unsolved problems which direct the focus of conscious attention. --Barry Kort