X-Message-Number: 14922 Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 05:54:23 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: more on brains and computers Once more, on brains and robots: While Lee Corbin isn't obviously talking to me, some of what he says (forgetting that I put most of my points as possibilities rather than certainties) does intersect with what I said. However in my original message I specifically gave some features of neurons in brains that differed considerably from any computer now in existence: changing connectivity and changing numbers of neurons. If we create machines which have this feature, we will have come much closer to an ability to make a truly intelligent HUMANLIKE machine than any attempt with the computers we can now make. Whether the result is or contains a "computer" may well simply depend on our definition then as distinct from our definition now; however the fact that such a device can not only take on different connections but also add (and yes, subtract) neurons does raise in my mind the possibility that it would not qualify as a Turing machine. Best wishes and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14922