X-Message-Number: 5453
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #5448 - #5450
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 09:26:36 -0800 (PST)

Hi!

I guess the last message wasn't really my last.

On consciousness --- a note for Bob Ettinger:

A couple of years ago one researcher, John Pollock, brought out a book which
might interest you. It was called: HOW TO BUILD A PERSON: A PROLEGOMENON
and discussed what would be involved in building a CONSCIOUS robot. The brain
of this robot of course used neural nets for many different roles --- it
wasn't a "normal" computer. But he also had a self-consciousness circuit.

One interesting feature of that circuit was that he could show that it actually
improved the ability of the robot to solve problems compared to that of a robot
similarly endowed but WITHOUT the self-consciousness circuit.

I won't go more into this right now, but it definitely bears on the question of
self-consciousness. Anyone who wants to argue these things might do well to 
read the book.

			Long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson


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