Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ucbvax!OZ.AI.MIT.EDU!MINSKY From: MINSKY@OZ.AI.MIT.EDU.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: AIList Digest V5 #170 Message-ID:Date: Mon, 6-Jul-87 16:29:00 EDT Article-I.D.: MIT-OZ.MINSKY.12316273277.BABYL Posted: Mon Jul 6 16:29:00 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jul-87 13:45:13 EDT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 15 Approved: ailist@stripe.sri.com I would like to see that discussion of "symbol grounding" reduced to much smaller proportions because I think it is not very relevant to AI, CS, or psychology. To understand my reason, you'd have to read "Society of Mind", which argues that this approach is obsolete because it recapitulates the "single agent" concept of mind that dominates traditional philosophy. For example, the idea of "categorizing" perceptions is, I think, mainly an artifact of language; different parts of the brain deal with inputs in different ways, in parallel. In SOM I suggest many alternative ways to think about thinking and, in several sections, I also suggest reasons why the single agent idea has such a powerful grip on us. I realize that it might seem self-serving for me to advocate discussing Society of Mind instead. I would have presented my arguments in reply to Harnad, but they would have been too long-winded and the book is readily available.