🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <343d1449.4070898@news.earthlink.net>
           savainl@earthlink.net "Louis Savain" writes:
> 
>   David, in the quoted paragraph above you said that "temporal
> relation alone is not sufficient" and that this was showed by Kamin.
> I pointed out that temporal order is it and that there is nothing
> else.  Now you seem to be backtracking on your original statement
> without coming right out and say that you were mistaken.  Fine.
> 
It isn't a matter of argument - I'm just telling you some of  the 
basic empirical findings which have been directing research  over 
the  past 30 years. As I have said elsewhere, from what you  have 
said  so far it looks like you have leaped on one report  in  the 
literature without knowing the literature well enough to properly 
evaluate  that  report. My point has been that you need  to  know 
that  literature  before  you start  dramatically  talking  about 
"revolutions". Either that or produce a demonstration.

But  as  I  say - you've done more than just  tell  us  about  an 
interesting report on synaptic plasticity in SCIENCE, you've also 
claimed  that *you* have a revolutionary development  yourself  - 
what  I  am  asking  for (and I'm sure I'm  not  alone)  is  some 
evidence  to support this claim. There are plenty of  people  who 
have  been working on making better models of how neurones  might 
work  together  to  affect synaptic plasticity,  but  even  where 
advances *are* made on that front - such advances are a long step 
away from talk of "intelligent machines".

There  are reports in the literature of completely  mapped  nerve 
nets  of  primitive  organisms  which  have  been  studied  quite 
thoroughly at both the neuronal, chemical and behavioural levels. 
Say  someone reports how a simple avoidance CR is conditioned  in 
one  of  these  organisms ("at the synaptic  level")  -  are  you 
seriously  saying  that once armed with a mathematical  model  of 
that  it  will  just  be a matter  of  "scaling  up"  to  produce 
"intelligent"  machines?....I suspect not when the logic  of  the 
matter is drawn so starkly.   

But as I said earlier - enough talk - just show us something,  or 
we'll  just  write off what you say as another piece  of  science 
fiction.
-- 
David Longley (check end reply line #)

Longley Consulting                                                  London, UK
Behaviour Assessment & Profiling Technology,
Research, Data Analysis and Training Services,
Small IT Systems                                http://www.longley.demon.co.uk