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Oct 29, 2022

In Defence of Strong AI: Semantics from Syntax

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI

Next, you seem to assume that when I catch a ball, my mind solves equations unconsciously, brining together inertia, gravity, air resistance to calculate my response. You may be right, but I don’t think most neuroscientist agree with you. That’s another computationalist prejudice. Rather than solving equations, my nervous system uses experience and extrapolation through repeated trial and improvement to hone a skill in extrapolating paths; no equations involved. As I say, I could be wrong, it’s an empirical question. But as far as I know, the balance of evidence and theory supports my interpretation.

The meaning of semantics is not just that it means something, but that it can be used to make statements about the world, beyond the formal system used to express that meaning. That, too, is definitional.

Your main argument seems like a really desperate move to sustain the computationalist faith that you assert at the beginning in the face of huge, perhaps insuperable difficulties.

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