Every computer divides itself into its hardware and its software, the machine host to its algorithm, the human being to his mind. It is hardly surprising that men and women have done what computers now do long before computers could do anything at all. The dissociation between mind and matter in men and machines is very striking; it suggests that almost any stable and reliable organization of material objects can execute an algorithm and so come to command some form of intelligence.
If moral statements are about something, then the universe is not quite as science suggests it is, since physical theories, having said nothing about… - David Berlinski
If moral statements are about something, then the universe is not quite as science suggests it is, since physical theories, having said nothing about…
- David Berlinski
Just who has imposed on the suffering human race poison gas, barbed wire, high explosives, experiments in eugenics, the formula for zyklon b, heavy a… - David Berlinski
Just who has imposed on the suffering human race poison gas, barbed wire, high explosives, experiments in eugenics, the formula for zyklon b, heavy a…
No distinction in kind rather than degree between ourselves and the chimps? No distinction? Seriously, folks? Here is a simple operational test: the … - David Berlinski
No distinction in kind rather than degree between ourselves and the chimps? No distinction? Seriously, folks? Here is a simple operational test: the …
Commentators who today talk of 'The Dark Ages' when faith instead of reason was said to ruthlessly rule, have for their animadversions only the excus… - David Berlinski
Commentators who today talk of 'The Dark Ages' when faith instead of reason was said to ruthlessly rule, have for their animadversions only the excus…
Ultimately, Leibniz argued, there are only two absolutely simple concepts, God and Nothingness. From these, all other concepts may be constructed, th… - David Berlinski
Ultimately, Leibniz argued, there are only two absolutely simple concepts, God and Nothingness. From these, all other concepts may be constructed, th…
At some time in the history of the universe, there were no human minds, and at some time later, there were. Within the blink of a cosmic eye, a unive… - David Berlinski
At some time in the history of the universe, there were no human minds, and at some time later, there were. Within the blink of a cosmic eye, a unive…
More than sixty years ago, mathematical logicians, by defining precisely the concept of an algorithm, gave content to the ancient human idea of an ef… - David Berlinski
More than sixty years ago, mathematical logicians, by defining precisely the concept of an algorithm, gave content to the ancient human idea of an ef…
"Young men wish always to dream of what they have lost." "And old men?" "Of what they have not found." - David Berlinski
"Young men wish always to dream of what they have lost." "And old men?" "Of what they have not found."
Darwinism is not a sufficient condition for a phenomenon like Nazism but I think it's certainly a necessary one. - David Berlinski
Darwinism is not a sufficient condition for a phenomenon like Nazism but I think it's certainly a necessary one.
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