I'm an uncle!

I'm an uncle!

Actually, I have been since Friday evening, but I only just received permission to put the pics online - and what would it all mean without pictures? Congrats to Maria, my elder brother Mike, and all best wishes to baby Helena for the future!

http://hacks.ciphergoth.org/helena/

Will rant about John Searle's intellectually bankrupt misrepresentation of those he disagrees with tomorrow. The fuck.

John Searle

The question I asked was

"The Church-Turing thesis states that any machine we can really imagine building, certainly any machine that can be built using the physical law that we know, can be simulated on a computer. That includes the human brain, which we agree is a machine. So do you agree with Penrose that there's physical law we don't know that will extend the powers of the brain beyond those of a Turing machine?"

The question I should have asked was

"When you represent what you call Strong AI as being based on the belief that the brain is like a digital computer, that's a deliberate misrepresentation designed to make it seem less plausible. Strong AI is, as you know perfectly well, based on the belief (which you share) that the brain is some sort of machine, and as such is amenable to simulation on a computer. You fuck."

As for the way he misrepresents Dennett... well, anyway, I'm kicking myself because I'll never get the chance again...

( unrelated dream follows )

Friends meme

That meme. Answers will be provided tomorrow! So if something seems really offensive, it probably will make sense to whoever it's aimed at...

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