?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Artificial+Life%3A+Synthetic+Versus+Virtual&rft.creator=Harnad%2C+Stevan&rft.subject=Artificial+Intelligence&rft.subject=Robotics&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.description=Artificial+life+can+take+two+forms%3A+synthetic+and+virtual.+In+principle%2C+the+materials+and+properties+of+synthetic%0Aliving+systems+could+differ+radically+from+those+of+natural+living+systems+yet+still+resemble+them+enough+to+be+really+alive+if+they%0Aare+grounded+in+the+relevant+causal+interactions+with+the+real+world.+Virtual+(purely+computational)+%22living%22+systems%2C+in+contrast%2C%0Aare+just+ungrounded+symbol+systems+that+are+systematically+interpretable+as+if+they+were+alive%3B+in+reality+they+are+no+more+alive%0Athan+a+virtual+furnace+is+hot.+Virtual+systems+are+better+viewed+as+%22symbolic+oracles%22+that+can+be+used+(interpreted)+to+predict+and%0Aexplain+real+systems%2C+but+not+to+instantiate+them.+The+vitalistic+overinterpretation+of+virtual+life+is+related+to+the+animistic%0Aoverinterpretation+of+virtual+minds+and+is+probably+based+on+an+implicit+(and+possibly+erroneous)+intuition+that+living+things+have%0Aactual+or+potential+mental+lives.+&rft.publisher=Reading%2C+Mass.%3AAddison-Wesley%2C+Advanced+Book+Program+1994.&rft.contributor=Langton%2C+Chris&rft.date=1993&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F1587%2F1%2Fharnad93.artlife.html&rft.identifier=++Harnad%2C+Stevan++(1993)+Artificial+Life%3A+Synthetic+Versus+Virtual.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F1587%2F