Re: Intelligence and Statistics

From: Lester Zick (lesterDELzick_at_worldnet.att.net)
Date: 09/25/04 

Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 15:24:46 GMT

Glen, you're going from a defensible if somewhat labored explanation
of calculation to an excruciatingly trivial definition of behavior led
astray, no doubt, by your equally inept comprehension of metaphor.

>JL: Therefore the moon's orbit is a calculation just as a computer's sum is
>a calculation. In both cases physical constraints ensure lawful outcomes.
>Whether or not it is useful to see them as such depends on the application.
>
>
>
>GS: No, that is wrong. The answer to your opening query is that a
>calculating machine is said to "calculate," and that has become conventional
>usage. The etymology is, however, clearly metaphorical. People "calculate"
>and doing so is behavior. But that does not mean that the computer is
>behaving (in the sense that this term is used in the non-generic sense,
>i.e., as, specifically, that portion of the organism-environment interaction
>characterized by movement of the animal or its parts, in space, through
>time, and having at least one measurable effect upon the environment) simply
>because we have metaphorically extended "calculate" or "compute." What this
>illustrates is how readily the simple-minded may be led astray by the
>cavalier use of metaphor.
>
>
>
>"Joe Legris" <jalegris@xympatico.ca> wrote in message
>news:41556F14.1090103@xympatico.ca...
>> Glen M. Sizemore wrote:
>
>

Regards - Lester

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Intelligence and Statistics
    ... Does a calculating machine calculate? ... If you define "calculation" as action that conforms to laws then ... behaving (in the sense that this term is used in the non-generic sense, ... cavalier use of metaphor. ...
    (sci.cognitive)
  • Re: Intelligence and Statistics
    ... Does a calculating machine calculate? ... > everything that is lawful is calculation. ... > behaving (in the sense that this term is used in the non-generic sense, ... > cavalier use of metaphor. ...
    (sci.cognitive)