>If a computer can do anything without a humanly-programmed set of
>instructions, we can start talking. However, a computer without a
>program is like a car without gasoline. It just sits there and does
>nothing. Another way of getting at this is to say that machine
>"Intelligence" starts at the point where a computer can come up with
>something that lies outside the permutations of its instruction set.
>Problem is, it can't. Some humans, on the other hand, can overcome
>their conditioning.
Humans and other animals do, like computers come with pre-programmed instructions, loosely described as instincts. Recoil from pain, survive, satisfy hunger, etc. Intelligence is merely the ability to build on the pre-programmed instructions (come up with something that lies outside the permutations of its instruction set) in order to adapt the programme.
Social conditioning and the ability to be socially conditioned is a valid and successful variation of the ability to self-programme the brain in order to adapt.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas