Monday, December 01, 2014

Philosophical Grammar 64


64. But if thinking consists only in writing and speaking, why shouldn’t a machine do it?

Could a machine be in pain?

It is a travesty of the truth to say: thinking is an activity of our mind, as writing is an activity of the hand.



the way to put it initially is to ask – why shouldn’t a machine propose?

the machine is a proposal – and built into the machine is production capability –

what a machine produces will be proposals –

open to question – open to doubt – uncertain

could a machine be in pain?

perhaps a malfunction of a machine could be regard as the machine in pain?

it really depends on just how you define ‘pain’

what form does a proposition take?

be it described as the result of a thought process – or that which is written – or something else –

what is logically relevant is that it is seen for what it is – a proposal –

open to question – open to doubt – uncertain –

what form a proposition takes –

is logically irrelevant



© greg t. charlton. 2014.