IT
"… at last she realized
what the Thing on the dais was.
IT was a brain.
A disembodied brain…."
"There could not be an objective test
that distinguished a clever robot
from a really conscious person."
— Daniel Dennett in TIME magazine,
issue dated Mon., Jan. 29, 2007
Daniel Dennett, Professor of Philosophy
and Director of the
Center for Cognitive Studies
at Tufts University,
in his office on campus.
(Boston Globe, Jan. 29, 2006.
Photo © Rick Friedman.)
Hexagram 39:
Obstruction
The Judgment
Obstruction. The southwest furthers.
(See Zenna Henderson.)
The northeast does not further.
(See Daniel Dennett.)
It furthers one to see the great man.
(See Alan Turing.)
Perseverance brings good fortune.
"If telepathy is admitted
it will be necessary
to tighten our test up."
Amen.
“Scientists, meanwhile, may be on the way to explaining how, and why, we got religion.”
Earlier today my son and I were discussing religion. His final word? “God doesn’t really care any more. He USED to care, but after ten thousand years of this crap, he’s busy watching SNL re-runs. It’s true. I know it. I mean, check it out. You’ve been my mother for 18 years, right?”
I nod.
“Think if you had to put up with my BS for ten thousand years.”
I think the kid has a point. That is, if we truly wanted to reduce deity to human status.
Comment by BlueCollarGoddess — Saturday, January 27, 2007 @ 8:32 pm