Re: Analog vs Digital

From: Michael Ragland (ragland37_at_webtv.net)
Date: 06/22/04 

Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:16:23 +0000 (UTC)

Michael Ragland <ragland37@webtv.net> wrote or quoted me as saying:
Tim Tyler:
Gene pools certainly *do* contain knowledge - according to at least two
of the definitions of the term at:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=knowledge According to such
definitions, things like information regarding the method of
construction of chlorophyll and haemoglobin constitute knowledge.

Michael Ragland:

Ragland
You are full of crap tim. Below is the definitions from the URL you
provided and there is nothing that specifically states according to
definitions things like information regarding the method of construction
of chlorophyll and haemoglobin constitute knowledge. Perhaps you could
pick out what you inferred that from.

E.g.:
``knowledge [...]
    5. Specific information about something.''
  - http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=knowledge
The means of construction of chlorophyll and haemoglobin seem to me to
qualify nicely here.
I never stated that the dictionary "specifically stated" anything about
chlorophyll and haemoglobin - they were examples which I gave to
illustrate its definition.

Ragland:
True, you never stated the dictionary stated anything specifically about
chlorophyll and haemoglobin but a reader could infer that. I think you
should have been more clear about your definition of knowledge as it
relates to "gene pools". The original argument was whether NS was
knowledeable, not the construction of chlorophyll and haemoglobin. It
seems here we have an epistemological issue. Some definitions of
knowledge clearly don't apply to the information of the construction of
chlorophyll and haemoglobin. Other definitions appear they could. IMO
having specific information about the construction of chlorophyll and
haemoglobin does not mean such information is knowledge. It certainly is
information with meaning but it doesn't become knowledge until we have
deciphered that meaning.

Ragland:
Furthermore, it is amusing to see you state gene pools constitute
knowledge from the man who once said, "Who said genes were smart".

Tim Tyler:
Intelligence and knowledge are not synonyms.

Ragland:
No, they aren't. But they are related.

A professor asked a student, "If you had a choice between the oppressed
and the oppressor which would you choose." The student replied,
"Neither". The Professor shook his head and stated, "You don't have a
choice." The student paused and said, "The oppressed".