But Robert,
Linux is an operating system, not a computer. Is the analogy to mind from a computer or from an operating system.
If so, would you say that a program is "inside" a computer or "an organization of the resources of " a computer. Hence, you would say that a mind is "of a brain" not "in a brain". And to the extent that a computer program organizes peripherals and even other computers than the one it is "of", you would have to say, consistent with the metaphor, that a mind is not just "of" its brain but also "of" the things in the world around that brain.
No?
Nick
Nicholas Thompson
nickthompson at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Holmes
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Cc: nickthompson at earthlink.net
Sent: 7/19/2006 11:53:59 AM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] computer models of the mind
Not strictly true I think. Sure, Linux can't run without a PC but does that mean it can't exist without one? Linux started its existence in Torvalds' head before it appeared on a CPU and if all CPUs vanished tomorrow it would still exist in his and other experts heads.
Similarly, who says I can't have a mind without a body? Won't it carry on existing in the mind of the Intelligent Designer?
Robert
On 7/19/06, Carlos Gershenson <cgershen at vub.ac.be> wrote:
> Minds do not, in our common talk, have arms, legs, mouths, eyes, etc.,
Yes, but you cannot have a (human) mind without a body.
In a similar way, you cannot have e.g. Linux running without a PC,
and Linux doesn't have a CPU, HD, RAM, etc...
This has lead people to either aim at real world robotics as the only
way forward in AI, or at developing inside the computer complex
bodies and environments...
Best regards,
Carlos Gershenson...
Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Krijgskundestraat 33. B-1160 Brussels, Belgium
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/ "To know your limits you need to go beyond them"
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