Xref: utzoo comp.ai:5294 sci.philosophy.tech:1825 talk.philosophy.misc:3377 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!dg1v+ From: dg1v+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Greene) Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.philosophy.tech,talk.philosophy.misc Subject: Re: Can Machines Think? Message-ID: Date: 28 Dec 89 13:49:52 GMT References: <1037@ra.stsci.edu>, <6902@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 35 In-Reply-To: <6902@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> Excerpts from netnews.comp.ai: 27-Dec-89 Re: Can Machines Think? martin.b.brilliant@cbnew (2932) > !In article <1037@ra.stsci.edu> bsimon@stsci.EDU (Bernie Simon) writes: > !5) Hence, while it may be possible to build a machine that thinks, it > !does not follow that it will be possible to build a computer that > !thinks, as not all physical activities can be performed by computers. > We seem to have got off the track. The question was not whether > computers can think, but whether machines can think. If you put a > computer into a machine that can accept sensory input and create > motor output, it might be able to do what we call thinking. I would welcome some clarification... Let's assume there is some agreement on what constitutes "what we call thinking" -- a big assumption. Is it the case that machines alone can think? Or is it that a machine requires a computer (as a necessary but not sufficient condition) to think? (and that a computer alone is insufficient) If it is only the machine+computer combination that is capable, what is it about the combination? Is it the ability to control its sensory inputs and outputs (the machine part) or some other distinction? -David -------------------------------------------------------------------- David Perry Greene || ARPA: dg1v@andrew.cmu.edu, dpg@isl1.ri.cmu.edu Carnegie Mellon Univ. || BITNET: dg1v%andrew@vb.cc.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15213 || UUCP: !harvard!andrew.cmu.edu!dg1v --------------------------------------------------------------------