RE: [asa] Sense and nonsense

Man is embedded in Nature and can only manipulate or mimic what already exists. I suppose only human acts that deal with supernatural actions, say, conversion ("Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Matt. 16:17), baptism, etc., may go beyond the physical aspect of Nature.

I can prove nothing, witness Gödel's incompleteness theorem, but it seems to me that considering the human brain as a physical organ and creating a complicated electrical circuit of 10^10 neurons with 10^14 synapses or much more does not a (super) human make. I suppose I should have indicated that the notion of superior is in the order of being.

Moorad

________________________________

From: D. F. Siemens, Jr. [mailto:dfsiemensjr@juno.com]
Sent: Fri 6/22/2007 12:59 AM
To: Alexanian, Moorad
Cc: igd.strachan@gmail.com; christine_mb_smith@yahoo.com; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] Sense and nonsense

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:25:15 -0400 "Alexanian, Moorad"
<alexanian@uncw.edu> writes:
> Humans can do nothing but copy Nature. Flight, computers, computer
> memory, submarines, etc. are reproduced in all sorts of manufactured
> objects. However, none will have the ability of neither common sense
> nor the creative power to create abstracts concepts. Man was created
> in "the image of God," which feature cannot be mapped in purely
> physical objects. Note that one must invoke the nonphysical or even
> the supernatural to deal with the negation of AI.
>
>
>
> Moorad
>
I'll agree with your first sentence with respect to static electricity
generators, which mimic the production of lightning. But I see no natural
example of a DC or AC generator, nor transformers and Tesla coils.

As to common sense, one of the grave problems with physicians is that
they fixate on diagnoses. I think of one case where the chap diagnosed
kidney stones, which weren't there, and decided it was indigestion. It
was a ruptured appendix. The patient nearly died. Only a competent
surgeon who was called in and massive doses of antibiotic saved his life.
That's the kind of event which suggests that we need to run symptoms into
a computer for life and death decisions, especially with uncommon
syndromes.

Finally, I would like you to prove that 10^10 neurons with 10^14 synapses
cannot generate a concept.
Dave

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Received on Fri Jun 22 07:03:00 2007