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From: csrobe@ICASE.ARPA (Charles S. Roberson)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest
Subject: Re: metaepistemology
Message-ID: <880628230905.9.NICK@WITHERING.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Date: 29 Jun 88 03:09:00 GMT
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From: csrobe@icase.arpa (Charles S. Roberson)
Message-Id: <8806271318.AA06857@work18.icase>
To: ailist@ai.ai.mit.edu, ylikoski@finfun.bitnet
Subject: Re: metaepistemology

Assume the "basic structure of the world is unknowable" 
[JMC@SAIL.Stanford.edu] and that we can only PERCEIVE our
world, NOT KNOW that what we perceive is ACTUALLY how the
world is.

Now imagine that I have created an agent that interacts
with *our* world and which builds models of the world
as it PERCEIVES it (via sensors, nerves, or whatever).

My question is this:  Where does this agent stand, in
relation to me, in its perception of reality?  Does it
share the same level of perception that I 'enjoy' or is
it 'doomed' to be one level removed from my world (i.e.
is its perception inextricably linked to my perception
of the world, since I built it)?

Assume now, that the agent is so doomed.  Therefore, it
may perceive things that are inconsistent with the world
(though we may never know it) but are consistent with
*my* perception of the world.

Does this imply that "true intelligence" is possible
if and only if an agent's perception is not nested
in the perception of its creator?  I don't think so.
If it is true that we cannot know the "basic structure of
the world" then our actions are based solely on our
perceptions and are independent of the reality of the
world.

I believe we all accept perception as a vital part of an
intelligent entity.  (Please correct me if I am wrong.)
However, a flawed perception does not make the entity any
less intelligent (does it?).  What does this say about
the role of perception to intelligence?  It has to be
there but it doesn't have to function free of original
bias?

Perhaps, we have just created an agent that perceives
freely but it can only perceive a sub-world that I
defined based on my perceptions.  Could it ever be
possible to create an agent that perceives freely and
that does not live in a sub-world?

-chip
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