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From: bloch@thor.ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Thought and Utility
Keywords: thermostats
Message-ID: <7691@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu>
Date: 11 Jan 90 06:24:30 GMT
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Reply-To: bloch@thor.UUCP (Steve Bloch)
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turney@cs.cornell.edu (Jenn Turney) writes:

>ian@oravax.odyssey.UUCP (Ian Sutherland) writes:

>>Doesn't the thermostat change its decision procedure when I turn the
>>dial?

>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...  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...
>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 would think the decision procedure is not just DETECTING whether
some criterion is met, but DECIDING WHAT TO DO -- in this case,
whether or not to turn on the heater.  If that's what we're interested
in, the decision procedure IS changing, in that the action will be
carried out under different conditions than it would have been
before.

"The above opinions are my own.  But that's just my opinion."
Stephen Bloch
bloch%cs@ucsd.edu