[Wittrs] Re: Does Dennett throw out the baby with the bathwater?
- From: "gabuddabout" <gabuddabout@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:00:26 -0000
Gordon writes:
> Dennett goes to great lengths to deny or obfuscate what should seem obvious:
> that people really do have such things as conscious beliefs and desires in
> their heads, just as normal people understand these things. But to allow for
> such common sense, Dennett would need to admit that people have something
> computers apparently cannot have, an idea he resists.
>
> For Dennett and for cognitive science in general, it's all about furthering
> the research program and ideology of strong AI. Where they cannot describe
> unconscious computers as conscious humans they try instead to describe
> conscious humans as unconscious computers. I find it dehumanizing.
>
> -gts
Hi Gordon,
Thanks for your reply and offer about the necessary complications for your LR.
I find you and Lanier today in some harmonic convergence. You'll enjoy an
anecdote, then, from Jaron Lanier's Manifesto, _You are not a Gadget_:
On zombies, Lanier writes:
"I claim that there is one measurable difference between a zombie and a person:
a zombie has a different philosophy. Therefore, zombies, can only be detected
if they happen to be professional philosophers. A philosopher like Daniel
Dennett is obviously a zombie. [new parag] Zombies and the rest of us do not
have a symmetrical relationaship. Unfortunately, it is only possible for
nonzombies to observe the telltale sign of zombiehood. To zombies, everyone
looks the same. [new parag] If there are enough zombies recruited into our
world, I worry about the potential for a self-fulfilling prophecy" (44).
One recalls the mantra: Govt. is the problem, not the solution.
Anyway....
Cheers,
Budd
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