Re: psychoceramics: grudge match of the decade: Moravec vs Penrose

[Karl Mamer <kamamer @ interlog.com>]

On Mon, 21 Apr 1997, Nikolai Kingsley wrote:

> 'a good deal of effort' being Penrose's 'The Emperor's New Mind', a book
> about two inches thick. and, yes, i did read it. i got the impression that
> Penrose was trying to win a philosophical argument by sheer force of masses
> of equations. sort of like continually hitting someone with your book and
> winning because it's bigger.

Ultimately, trying to argue a negative "AI is impossible" is a futile
task. You can always shurg your shoulders and counter with "well, you
never know." Penrose does at least lay out much of the conceptual problems
faced by AI, even if he cloaks it in a book-selling "Ain't No Such Think
As AI, Now or Ever!" thesis. That seems to be the trend with academics
wanting their work to bridge into the popular realm. Remember that
historian fellow who argued for the "end of history". Ultimately,
history ain't ever gonna stop being made, it's just that the big stuff
can slow down. And of course, the latest thesis seems to be "the end of
great discoveries in science". 

Anyway it seems to me since Penrose's work, AI has sorta been dropped as
the darling of the popular press.

Did anyone catch that item about one of Penrose's mathematical objects (a
"tile" or something, sorry don't know the lingo) being used on bathroom
tissue. Penrose hit the roof! He was talking about suing. He had a great
line, something about you don't take the work of a Knight of the Realm and
let people wipe their ass with it.