Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-lcc!lll-winken!uunet!mcvax!hp4nl!htsa!fransvo From: fransvo@htsa.uucp (Frans van Otten) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: "Boss, look: da brain, da brain!" Message-ID: <816@htsa.uucp> Date: 31 Mar 89 11:48:31 GMT References: <4298@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <29075@sri-unix.SRI.COM> Organization: AHA-TMF (Technical Institute), Amsterdam, Netherlands Lines: 34 Michael Ellis writes: >Wayne A. Throop writes: > >>...First is the trivial one, that the chemical reactions in the brain >>are, at base, representable as discrete and symbolizable. That is, >>there is a limit to the "analogness" of the brain's representation >>of the world around it. >>...It seems plausible (and even likely) that the "analogness" of signals >>within the brain are not representations of analog quantities in the "real >>world". > >Grasping for straws. Just who have you been reading? Douglas Hofstadter? > >The brain is clearly analog. What you *desperately* have to show us is that >it is "at base, representable as discrete". You have only given us a wish >list of blanket assertions. Let me translate this to the digital computer world. The signals in it are clearly analog. Then your conclusion is "the entire computer is analog" when you say "the brain is analog". Probably many analog signals in the brain are (directly or indirectly) representations of analog quantities in the real world. But not neccesarily the same way. The digital representation (within a computer) of an original analog signal is also an analog value but it can be represented as discrete and symbolized. -- Frans van Otten Algemene Hogeschool Amsterdam Technische en Maritieme Faculteit fransvo@htsa.uucp