Dear Prof. Harnad
After looking at the mind/body problem, i have a few
qustions for you that will help me to understand things a
little bit better. I hope it is not too late.
1. For 100% proof you need a contradiction, so if e=mc2, at
the same time e cannot not equal mc2, otherwise the formula
would not work, therefore isn't this a contradiction? -
meaning that this must be beyond a shadow of a doubt?
2. Is the mind-body problem an inability of other people to
objectively observe the mental state of a certain
individual?, as the only way in which that individual can
explain/prove his/her mental state to other people is by
relating it to physical states? i.e anxiety can be proved
by butterflies in the stomach, which due to changes in the
blood flow, has a physical basis.
3. Re-phrasing question 2, is it the inability to provide
evidence which turns thinking/feeling/cognition from a
subjective to an objective experience?
4. To understand the brain, you said that we would probably
have to model it. Yet we can't do this with the mind as it
has no physical basis on which models can be constructed,
so how are we going to be able to investigate it?. Based on
this, is there any chance that artificial intelligence
(implying an ability to think, feel for its self) could be
developed?. Also, how can we be sure that it has been
developed, ie that it is thinking for it's self, since
there is no objective evidence to show that thinking is
actually taking place ?(other-minds)
Okay, i think thats everything!
Thanks very much
Tom
----------------------
T.JOnes
tjj197@soton.ac.uk
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