Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
From: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: The difference between machine and human intelligence (was: AI and Intelligence)
Message-ID: <406@uwslh.UUCP>
Date: 30 Nov 88 18:04:02 GMT
References: <401@uwslh.UUCP> <960@dgbt.uucp>
Reply-To: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts)
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison, State Hygiene Lab
Lines: 34

In article <960@dgbt.uucp> thom@dgbt.uucp (Thom Whalen) writes:
>From article <401@uwslh.UUCP>, by lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts):
>> I propose that a machine without human-like senses cannot "understand"
>> many ideas and imagery the way a human does, simply because it will
>> not be able to perceive its surroundings in the same way as a human.
>> Any comments?
>
>Do you believe that Helen Keller "understood many ideas and imagery the
>way a human does?  She certainly lacked much of the sensory input that
>we normally associate with intelligence.
>
>Thom Whalen

     I do not believe she *perceived* the world as most people with
full senses do.  I do believe she "understood many ideas and imagery"
the way humans do because she had (1) touch, (2) taste, and (3)
olfactory senses (she was not able to hear or see, if I remember
correctly), as well as other internal sensations (i.e. sickness, pain,
etc.).  The way I remember it, she was taught to speak by having her
"feel" the vibrations of her teacher's throat as words were said while
associating the words with some sensation (i.e.  the "feeling" or
water as it ran over her hands).  Also (and this is a highly personal
judgement) I think the fact that she was a human, with a human nervous
system and human reactions to other sensations (i.e. a sore stomach,
human sicknesses, etc.), also added to her "human understanding."  

					.oO Chris Oo.-- 
Christopher Lishka                 ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene                   lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu
Immunology Section  (608)262-1617                            lishka@uwslh.uucp

		 "I'm not aware of too many things...
		  I know what I know if you know what I mean"
		    -- Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians