[ExI] The symbol grounding problem in strong AI

[Gordon Swobe]

--- On Tue, 12/22/09, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Biological brains do something we don't yet
> understand. Call it X. Whatever X may be, it causes the
> brain to have the capacity for intentionality.
> 
> Really? How would you define it?

I like this basic definition from the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy online: "Intentionality is the power of minds to be about, to represent, or to stand for, things, properties and states of affairs."

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intentionality/

We sometimes get caught up in discussions of the related word "consciousness" but I can understand how that word makes some people uncomfortable. To have intentionality is just simply to have something in mind. You have it just as surely as you have this sentence in mind. 

-gts