“Since the inception of the Artificial Intelligence project, the use of computer analogies to try to describe, understand, and replicate mental processes has led to their widespread abuse. Typically, an exponent of AI will not just use a computer metaphor to describe the mind, but will also assert that such a description is a sufficient understanding of the mind–indeed, that mental processes can be understood entirely in computational terms.” It is not!
Tag: 02.09
Why Americans Don’t Understand Foreign Cultures
“It is not that Americans lack curiosity of any Âkind–Âbut that we seem to lack the right kind. Europe is overrun with young American tourists. Unfortunately, these college students tend to pack a dozen countries into a month or less. They often tote guides such as Let’s Go, which highlight the greatest hits and cheapest places and are written by, you guessed it, other American college students. That’s how we seem to read international literature as well. Let’s go, we might say, but let’s go easy. And Âcheap.”
Will Economic Crisis Re-Energize New York’s Creative Life?
“The financial crisis may ultimately help New York by reenergizing its creative economy. The extraordinary income gains of investment bankers, traders, and hedge-fund managers over the past two decades skewed the city’s economy in some unhealthy ways. Stratospheric real-estate prices have made New York less diverse over time, and arguably less stimulating.”