[ExI] The symbol grounding problem in strong AI

[Gordon Swobe]

--- On Wed, 12/30/09, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:

>> I make a clear distinction between those two
> categories of things. Computer simulations of real things do
> not equal those real things they simulate, and some
> "simulate" nothing real in the first place.
> 
> A simulated thunderstorm won't be wet except in its
> simulated world. 

Really? Seems to me that not even wetness exists in that supposed world. Your supposed world exists only in some person's imagination, helped along by some well-written code resident in some computer's RAM that helps to make that supposed world easy to imagine. Not only does no wetness exist there, there's no there there.

And simulated minds can't observe themselves any more than can the simulated goldfish that appear to swim on some screen-savers.

-gts