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From: turney@njord.cs.cornell.edu (Jenn Turney)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Thought and Utility
Message-ID: <35787@cornell.UUCP>
Date: 8 Jan 90 18:31:02 GMT
References: <31821@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> <0cTG02uf793w01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> <7462@cs.utexas.edu> <5cK702mf795h01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> <1213@oravax.UUCP>
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In article <5cK702mf795h01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> kp@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Ken Presting) writes:
>The big deficiency ...
>... you can't get them to alter their decision procedure
>by inputting arguments via the interface that recognizes the public
>language.

In article <1213@oravax.UUCP> ian@oravax.odyssey.UUCP (Ian Sutherland) writes:
>Doesn't the thermostat change its decision procedure when I turn the
>dial?  Of course, I can't convince it to adopt a decision procedure which
>ignores the setting on the dial entirely, but I probably couldn't
>convince you to adopt a decision procedure which ignores which neurons
>in your brain are firing either.  

A clarification and disambiguation should be made before this discussion
continues (if it does).  I missed the start of it so forgive me if this
has already been covered, but judging from the content of these messages,
I suspect it has not been.

As someone else (sorry, I can't attribute it) pointed out, it is tenuous
to say that the thermostat "decides" whether it is above or below a
certain temperature.  It might be more accurate to state that the
thermostat EMBODIES a decision procedure.  The answer to the question of
whether the decision procedure changes when the dial is turned depends
on what you consider to be the decision procedure.  Is the procedure followed
in deciding that the temperature is above 65 different from the one
followed in deciding that the temperature is above 70?  If the answer is
no, then the first excerpt makes sense (and doesn't otherwise).  Mr.
Sutherland seems to realize the ambiguity but hasn't explicitly stated
it.  Turning the dial changes the decision procedure only if you consider
a decision procedure to be an _instantiation_ of the function "Is the
temperature below X?".

I've intentionally left this question open.  I think arguments can be made
both ways.  If you want to discuss "decision procedures", that's fine, but
make sure your audience knows what meaning you've assigned to the phrase.

Jenn
________
  |  |	  turney@svax.cs.cornell.edu | Let us a little permit Nature to take
| |  |	  Dept. of Computer Science  | her own way; she better understands her
\_|  |	  Cornell University	     | own affairs than we.    -- Montaigne