Re: Protean Self-Transformation

Mark Grant (mark@unicorn.com)
Sun, 6 Apr 1997 10:04:20 +0000


On Tue, 1 Apr 1997, Dan Hook wrote:

> The problem here is that human emotion and cognition are largely
> mysterious, at least to the individual. Any computer program is going to
> be obviously deterministic.

Only if you know all the inputs and the precise timings of any
'interrupts'. A single bit or clock cycle difference may produce very
different results. As a simple example I have fond memories of a bug which
made our software work correctly in the afternoon but sometimes produce
invalid results in the morning... Of course you have no proof that humans
are any different; most people I know have 'buttons' you can press (by
doing or saying something) which will make them react in a predictable and
seemingly deterministic fashion.

Mark

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Mark Grant M.A., U.L.C. EMAIL: mark@unicorn.com |
|WWW: http://www.unicorn.com/ MAILBOT: bot@unicorn.com |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|