Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!shelby!lindy!news
From: GA.CJJ@forsythe.stanford.edu (Clifford Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Confusion symbols and representations
Message-ID: <2981@lindy.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 3 May 89 23:36:37 GMT
Sender: news@lindy.Stanford.EDU (News Service)
Distribution: usa
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In article <5620@xyzzy.UUCP>,
usenet@xyzzy.UUCP (Usenet Administration) writes:
>> [..A..] direct [..causal..] relationship is what I mean by "represent".
>> The level
>> of the alcohol in a thermometer "represents" temperature.  The "40" printed
>> next to the alcohol column "symbolizes" a quantity.
>
>Given this, I contend that computers represent the world around them
>every bit as much as humans do.

To step further into the infinite regress of mirrors that comprise
"authentic" forms of (direct) representation, I would further
contend that a person can represent a computer -- and indeed does
so when his actions are driven by rules based on computer output.