Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ucsd!sdcsvax!beowulf!pluto From: pluto@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Mark E. P. Plutowski) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Where might CR understanding come from (if it exists) Summary: Form and function intertwined at some level. Message-ID: <6182@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> Date: 31 Mar 89 03:55:33 GMT References: <2691@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> <813@htsa.uucp> <448@esosun.UUCP> Sender: nobody@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu Reply-To: pluto@beowulf.UCSD.EDU (Mark E. P. Plutowski) Organization: EE/CS Dept. U.C. San Diego Lines: 48 In article <448@esosun.UUCP> jackson@freyja.css.gov (Jerry Jackson) writes: >... What is claimed is that >possibly it is not merely functional structure that determines >the mind. The "silicon-based" computers we have are brain-like only in >functional organization (if that :-). Perhaps consciousness is a *chemical* >phenomenon and not a result of a particular functional structure. Perhaps this is true, at some level of analysis. But it is surely false, at some level of implementation. If consciousness includes all mental calculations, then witness the computation facilitated by topological mappings, interconnection schemata, and by the compartmentalization of these "chemical phenomenon." > [such a human trait] as subjectivity ... doesn't immediately appear to be reducible to structure >or functional organization. It may even be totally unnecessary for intelligent >behavior. If so, though, it is hard to imagine why such a thing would evolve. > Depending upon your perspective, perhaps. But, it should not be difficult to imagine *how* such a thing would evolve. How can we not be subjective, unless out of body experience is a fact? Indeed, it is more likely that subjectivity is a result of the underlying implementation of intelligence, rather than a refuting piece of evidence against the possibility that intelligence depends upon its underlying structure. If, for all practical purposes, we can divorce consciousness from its underlying structure, then, why is one particular practical purpose so difficult for individuals to achieve? Namely, objectivity. Mark Plutowski =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You can skin a gift horse in the mouth, but you can't make him drink. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Plutowski INTERNET: pluto%cs@ucsd.edu Department of Computer Science, C-014 pluto@beowulf.ucsd.edu University of California, San Diego BITNET: pluto@ucsd.bitnet La Jolla, California 92093 UNIX:{...}ucsd!cs.UCSD.EDU!pluto =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You can skin a gift horse in the mouth, but you can't make him drink,