Marvin Mynsky:
" Why are [mental]processes so hard to classify? In earlier times, we could usually judge machines and processes by how they transformed raw materials into finished products.
[Input==>Processing==>Output]
But it makes no sense to speak of brains as though they manufacture thoughts the way factories make cars.
The difference is that brains use processes that change themselves - and this means we cannot separate such processes from the products they produce...
The principal activities of brains are making changes in themselves.
Because the whole idea of self-modifying processes is new to our experience, we cannot yet trust our commonsense judgment about such matters."
Implications for the nature of knowledge. |
