Re: virus: Re: virus-digest V2 #37

Martz (martz@martz.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 14 Feb 1997 20:30:53 +0000


On Wed, 12 Feb 1997, Reed Konsler <konsler@ascat.harvard.edu> wrote:
>If your spell-checker respells something you screwed up...is that a
>distinction-meme?

What if it screws up something I spelled correctly?

>People use cognitive aids all the time: computers, watches, day-timers,
>calculators...do these things think, even a little?

I think how that question is answered would depend on perspective. We
are all human beings (I think) and we use these tools regularly
ourselves. When I look at a clock, or use my computer, I see these
things as external to myself. By extrapolation, I therefore see them as
external to humans. If I was viewing the human/tool system for the first
time I might well decide to view it as a whole, and in that context I
would probably answer that each of the constituent parts 'think' to a
degree. I might recognise that the piece that does most of the thinking
is the human nervous system but I'm sure I would recognise even the
lowly watch as playing a part in the overall cognitive process.

-- 
Martz
martz@martz.demon.co.uk

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