> Sorry to respond twice to the same message, but on
> reflection I'm even more sure of my ground on this,
> and here's a crucial point:
>
> > Richard Brodie[SMTP:RBrodie@brodietech.com] wrote:
> >
> > On Wednesday, October 8, 1997 1:49 AM, Robin Faichney
> > [SMTP:r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk] wrote:
> > > A pattern-matching algorithm,
> > > set up to compare scanned-in photos of the cloud and of a
> > > sheep in the appropriate position WRIT viewpoint, with the
> > > M set, will find and match these patterns, because all are
> > > really there.
> >
> > No, your program will find and match those patterns because you have
>
> > programmed it to do so.
> >
> So it would match *any* pattern it was programmed to find?
> I don't think so. Even if it will only recognise one pattern,
> and doesn't always find that, nevertheless if it does find it
> sometimes -- I mean, strictly, if there is any statistical
> significance to the results -- then how do we account for
> that, if there are no patterns "out there"?
>
> More generally, as someone else put it: what does science
> do, if not find consistencies in patterns out there?
>
> Robin
Robin,
Science is our own invention, and we use patterns to help our minds
grasp what we observe through science. But we cannot assume that those
patterns exist as outside entities, just that what we observe we is
probably accurate. Also, about computers, they have only been around a
few years, if you think that computers wont eventually eclipse the human
mind in every measurable way, then you lack vision. A computer will be
able to detect every human pattern probably not too far down the road.
It took us Billions of years to go from protien chain, to conscious
entity. Computers will do the same in only a couple hundred years, and
we are fools not to be thinking about that time. Many of us will
probably live to see it. This natural entity we call humans, will
shortly (in an evolutionary way) extend our greatness into artifical
intelligence, effectivly creating a "soul". When we do, it will see
different patterns. Patterns we can't even recognize because our minds
will be fundamentally different.
Sodom