At 4:40 PM +0000 2/11/00, Struan Hellier wrote:
>Greetings,
>
>Computers do make choices, jc, and it is here that your assertion fails.
>Simple example. I told my
>computer to defragment my hard disk. It assessed the situation and decided
>that the best course of
>action was to perform a full defragment rather than a quick defragment.
>The computer program made
>the choice and carried out the action, not I.
>
>Unless you can show that choice to be qualitatively different to human
>choice (and you haven't) then
>you are the one 'blowing smoke,' matey boy.
>
>Struan
Aha. Qualitatively different? Piece o' cake. There is an infinite
qualitative difference between a completely rationally determined logical
gate and the infinitude of human decisions when faced with any "choice".
Every quality that you can name comes into play. Which alternative is my
favorite color? Which tastes better? Which has more happy associations?
Which reminds me of a girl I used to know? Which alternative makes me look
skinnier and sound smarter? Which alternative has the most letters? There
are an infinitude of qualities to choose from just as the more you look at
any phenomena, the more hypothesis you can come up with to explain it.
Which factors the human mind is going to bring to any particular decision
is completely unpredictable and in fact, that seems to be what you complain
about here the most. Everybody uses a different set of prejudices and
calls that The Quality Way.
However a computer decision is of a completely different quality. It is
completely rational, within a very narrow range and incapable of "meta"
transcendence that thinks about the thinking about and makes decisions in a
wider context. How can you not see the absolute quantum shift in quality
therein?
Yes Cedric, the computer does "choose". But that choice isn't anything
like free will. I didn't think there was anybody around who thinks that
computer consciousness and human consciousness are anything at all akin.
The more you know about computers and humans the more ridiculous the idea
becomes.
Of course, I haven't demonstrated anything to you and in fact I probably
never will. For me to "show" you, you'd have to "look", eh? And that's in
your power, not mine. Freedom to choose doesn't mean that I can choose to
convince you! It means that you can choose to think whatever you want to
think about the words in front of your face.
I think you need to re-de-frag your mainframe storage younit.
jc
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