[ExI] The symbol grounding problem in strong AI

John Clark jonkc at bellsouth.net
Wed Dec 30 05:17:56 UTC 2009


On Dec 29, 2009, Gordon Swobe wrote:
> 
> I see that we have two categories of things and objects 1) the real kind and 2) the computer simulated kind.  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.

As I've said before a simulated flame is a perfectly real and objective phenomenon, but care must be taken not to confuse levels. A simulated flame won't burn your computer but it will burn a simulated object. A real flame won't burn the laws of chemistry but it will burn your finger.

And the real world is seldom interested in categories, and making a clear distinction between them is even rarer. Putting things in categories is the sort of thing people do with their mind, it's the sort of thing people do when they try to simulate the real objective world and put it into their subjective universe. The mental simulation is not exact but one does the best one can.   

 John K Clark

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