[ExI] AI Motivation revisited

[john clark]

Richard Loosemore wrote
"A "motivation mechanism" is something that an ordinary PC does not even have,"

Sure it does, although I admit that the the word "motivation" is usually used for things somewhat more complex than a PC, but it still just means the things that caused a system to perform one way rather than another. At one level you could say that the motivation mechanism of a PC is the pattern of charges in its memory chips, at a somewhat higher level you could say that the motivation mechanism of a PC is the software it is running. Both descriptions are equally true although their usefulness varies depending on what you're trying to do with those explanations. The idea that some are trying to push around here that motivation is something very mysterious that can only apply to wet carbon based computers and not dry silicon based computers is nonsense. 

 John K Clark


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