Tudor,
If you were referring to the following post as the source of an appropriate filter for what should and should not be considered an appropriate question I think you picked the wrong source. oh yes, there are indeed stupid questions... e.g. what is essence of time? what is the nature of consciousness? where does the now go? we would do such an incredibly positive service to the next generation if we could convince them early on of the stupidity of nonsensical sentence structuring... for anyone still not finished with wittgenstein's final works, the answer to all the above is the japanese word 'mu' (question is a false construction based on ignorance), or explicitly: time is a made up name one gives to cycles of the sun, decaying particles, etc. there is no essence, just a naming convention; consciousness is a made up name for a subjective set of behaviors given a set of stimuli, different for each questioner; the now can't go anywhere just like a river can't stop flowing since it would cease to be called a river... <http://hyperlogic.blogspot.com/2008/11/oh-yes-there-are-indeed-stupid.html> # posted by observer 2.0 @ 04:23 <http://hyperlogic.blogspot.com/2008/11/oh-yes-there-are-indeed-stupid.html> 0 comments It implies it is pointless to ask what the essence of time is, but then proceeds to give an explanation of time that is not pointless, and may shed light on its meaning, which is perhaps as much of an essence as time has.. Similarly, it implies it is pointless to ask what is the nature of consciousness, and then gives an explanation, that while not necessarily correct, or even close to complete, has some meaning about the nature of what we call consciousness. It is not clear that either of the above two questions fall within the above quote's definition of "mu". Even questions that more clearly fall within the meaning of "mu," such as "what is the sound of one hand clapping," can have some value for providing an example of "mu" and warning us of the types of trick language can play on us. Ed Porter -----Original Message----- From: Tudor Boloni [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:36 AM To: agi@v2.listbox.com Subject: [agi] who is going to build the wittgenstein-ian AI filter to spot all the intellectual nonsense we invariably generate and then fruitlessly explore (our field is even more exposed to this than most others) until we come up against the limits of our own language, and defeated and fatigued realize we never thought the questions through. i nominate this guy: http://hyperlogic.blogspot.com/ at a minimum wittgenstein's Brown Book should be required reading for all AGI list members t _____ agi | <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/> | <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; 0> Modify Your Subscription <http://www.listbox.com> ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=120640061-aded06 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
