I wonder, why were so many people, most (perhaps all) of whom are non-specialists and, perhaps even more curious, unfamiliar with the workings of high-performance computing systems, so willing to, rather often, toss molatovs at one another over whether a dream tech can be realized?
I find that to be a more interesting topic than any of the *Searles' right --- Searle's wrong* style arguments and counter-arguments thrown back and forth across the table.
It is fun to talk about these things and perhaps that explains it. Still, the heat under some folks' collars was surprising.
...
I noticed that many of the arguments offered were far behind the curve of current thinking and, as I said, divorced from any understanding of actual machines. So, if you really dig this sort of thing I suggest updating your knowledge by stopping by the spiritual home of AI research: the MIT AI Lab.
Further discussion of the topic at LBO-talk, while probably inevitable and surely entertaining, will only be a kind carousel ride - going nowhere at great speed.
DRM
....
MIT AI LAB LINKS
homepage -
http://www.ai.mit.edu/index.shtml
intro from director Rodney Brooks (decent overview of current thinking) -
http://www.ai.mit.edu/introduction/director-message.shtml
research projects -
http://www.csail.mit.edu/research/activities/activities.html
research abstracts -
http://www.csail.mit.edu/research/abstracts/abstracts03/index.html
publications -
http://www.ai.mit.edu/research/publications/publications.shtml
Open Mind 1001 Questions
help a *learning system* to learn by filling out an endless questionaire about real world objects and events -
http://www.teach-computers.org/learner.html
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