HNRS330I Final

What is the consciousness objection, and how does Turing answer it?

Argument of consciousness states that a machine is not conscious of its own actions (and cannot have emotions, beliefs, or desires). Turing argues that accepting the argument from consciousness would be accepting Solipsis: meaning that you can never know what another person thinks unless you are that person and thus you are only certain that you are that person. Therefore, the only way to know that a machine can feel and think is to be the machine and feel and think yourself.

What leads us to care about our families, according to Pinker?

"The added good will one feels toward kin is doled out according to a feeling that reflects the probability that the kind act will help a relative propagate copies of one's genes" (p. 431). "If a gene makes an organism benefit a relative (say, by feeding or protecting it), it has a good chance of benefiting a copy of itself" (430).

What are the evolutionary functions of fear, liking, anger, and gratitude?

(p 404). Escape danger - fear; initiate altruism - liking; protects us from being taken advantage of or cheated - anger; reciprocate according to costs and benefits of original act - gratitude

Why are each of the following 'myths', according to Pinker: improvement is the goal of evolution; animal minds are simple; there is a general intelligence and humans have more of it; humans have fewer instincts?

- Evolution has no goal. There is no progress or inferior/superior species. P 153 Evolution is about ends not means. Becoming smart is just one option. The process of natural selection is driven by difference in the survival and reproduction rate in a particular environment. Nothing pulls them in any direction other than that success. - Also the complexity (improvement) of most creatures alive at a given time increases over the eons, but not all.organisms meet and optimum, whether that is more complex, more poisonous, bigger, sensitive etc, - whatever works for them and then they stay put. P 153 - Animals have their own unique intelligence that cannot be compared to human intelligence so it is wrong to say that their minds are simple. There's no general intelligence. "A brain is a precision instrument that allows a creature to use information to solve the problems presented by its lifestyle. Since organisms' lifestyles differ, and since they are related to one another in a great bush, not a great chain, species cannot be ranked in IQ or by the percentage of human intelligence they have achieved" (182). - P 153 We are chauvinistic about our brains, thinking they are the goal of evolution. that makes no sense, for reasons articulated over the years by Stephen Jay. First natural selection does nothing close to strive for intelligence. - We have a ton of instincts; our minds our built from instincts so that we can make a decision rather than go through an infinite number of logic sequences. "Remember what the tortoise said to Achilles. No rational creature can consult rules all the way down; that way infinite regress lies. At some point a thinker must execute a rule, because he just can't help it: it's the human way, a matter of course, the only appropriate and natural thing to do - in short, an instinct" (185).

Why does Steven Pinker think emotions set the brain's highest level goals?

Because you can't do multiple things at once. Therefore you have to commit yourself to one thing at a time; you have to prioritize your goals. Pinker gives the example about how you're between a lake and a bush. You have to decide to do either one of them but you can't do both at the same time. There is a higher order to emotions. For instance, disgust. If a baby sees a piece of meat, they become hungry and want to eat the meat. But if the baby then notices a bunch of ants on the meat, then he won't want to eat the meat anymore. When that happens, disgust, the higher order emotion, completely overwhelms all of the other lower-order goals. Fear is another example. If I was in my room and had several things to do like: call back my mom, write an essay, do my laundry, but then I saw a tiger in the living room, fear would completely overwhelm all of my other listed goals. Pinker writes that "emotion triggers the cascade of subgoals and sub-subgoals that we call thinking and acting" (373). P370 Emotions are adaptations, well engineered software that work in harmony with intellect and are indispensable to the functional mind. The problem isn't that emotions are untamed forces but that they were designed to help make copies not promote happiness and wisdom. Emotions are deemed damaging because it might affect ones' happiness in the long run but it is what we should expect from well-engineered emotions. - The highest level goals Pinker is referring to are the passage of genes. Emotions don't just come from the limbic system but also works in tandem with the amygdala. It colors our experiences with emotions from the simple lower stations of the brain as well as the abstract complex info from the brains highest centers. The amygdala then sends signals to virtually every other part of the brain. P 371 It isn't just running away from the bear. It can be set off by the most sophisticated information processing the mind is capable of such as reading a Dear John letter or finding an ambulance in the driveway. Emotions help connive plots for escape, revenge, ambition and courtship.

What is the computational theory of mind, and how is it different from connectionism?

CTM says that the mind is an informational processor. Connectionism says the mind works through neural networks. Connectionist networks are better at pattern recognition than CTM. CTM suggests the brain processes information and thinking is a kind of computation. The mind is organized into modules or mental organs (page 21) Connectionism explains intellectual abilities by artificial neural networks. Neural networks are composed by analogs of neurons that provide strong connection between the units. The mind is a big hidden layer backpropagation network

In what sense are emotions computational, evolved, and modular, according to Pinker?

Disgust (~382) Computational: figures out/computes what the object is to then determine how to feel about it Evolved: adaptation that deters us from eating dangerous animal stuff Modular: semi-independent of other parts of the mind, we are capable of saying "bugs are gross, but they're safe to eat. I'm starving so, though I feel disgust, I'll still eat them" Resistant to rational thinking (disgust) - modular; Set goals and follow a rule-based system - computational; Protect us from potentially harmful substances/ universal - evolved P372 A conventional computer program needs a list of instructions to execute. But the intelligence of living things need a more flexible method of control. Intelligence is the pursuit of goals in the face of obstacles. Without goals the concept of intelligence is meaningless. Emotions are computational because they can be set off by the most sophisticated information processing like reading a Dear John letter. They are modular because they use the limbic system as well as the amygdala to send responses into every part of the organism. They are evolved because we have them to provide us with the drive to want more. This is part of natural selection

How might Fred (from the free will dialog) object to Turing's answer to the consciousness objection, and how might Turing use Carolyn to answer Fred?

Fred would argue that we can engage in introspection when we perform an action. For example, an individual can move their arm up and introspect that they chose to do so when they could have taken another course of action. He would claim that machines would not be capable of introspection because they have no free will due to their actions being preprogrammed. Turing could utilize Carolyn's argument that we can only introspect so far because we are not aware of our unconscious brain states and how they affect our actions.

How do illusions and irrationality help support the innateness of these abilities?

Gambler's fallacy; weather patterns (Probability); These illusions and irrationality indicate a well-designed machine as theses abilities were used by our ancestors for their survival and are still found within us today. They appear irrational because they do not follow logical systems. The examples of illusions and irrationalities show that "the human mind...is not equipped with an evolutionary frivolous faculty for doing Western science, mathematics, chess, or other diversions. It is equipped with faculties to master the local environment and outwit its denizens" (352).

What is our purpose according to evolutionary psychology?

Gene's purpose is to survive and reproduce (get passed on) To want pleasure The Gene's purpose:Survive and reproduce? You are designed to want pleasure -sex, eating fruit, high status

In what sense are genes and humans selfish, and in what sense is it misleading to call either selfish?

Genes and humans are selfish because they act for the sole benefit of themselves. Humans aren't selfish because they don't knowingly act to propagate their genes. Genes aren't selfish because they have no will or goal.

What is the cognitive niche?

Intelligence is defined by Pinker as "using knowledge of how things work to attain goals in the face of obstacles" (188). What Pinker means when he claims humans have entered the "cognitive niche" is that they developed the ability to "use novel, goal-oriented courses of action to overcome defenses of other organisms" as well as other problems in general. The novelty of these actions result from humanity's capacity for abstract thought/intelligence. Humans do not hold knowledge in the form of instructions such as "how to catch rabbit;" rather, they use "intuitive theories of objects, forces, paths, places, manners, states..." and so on. This ability to plug information into a sort of formula is what has allowed us to enter the cognitive niche. Refers to humans capacity for abstract intelligence which they can use to create novel ideas or solutions to achieve their goals.

What is the Turing Test?

Is a test for intelligence in a computer, requiring that a human being should be unable to distinguish the machine from another human being by using the replies to questions put to both. The Turing Test is a test for intelligence in a computer. Turing's replacement for the initial question concerns whether it is possible to create a machine that is capable of successfully imitating a human. Turing believes that the term "think" is open to interpretation and believes applying this word to a machine is essentially meaningless. The imitation game requires that a computer be able to fool the interviewer by portraying the characteristics of a human. The key to this game is that the interviewer must be unable to distinguish the computer from another human being.

How does it explain the Coolidge effect (471) and the Madonna/hole dichotomy (480)?

It explains the Coolidge effect because men are designed to desire multiple sexual partners in order to propagate their genes. "Males may not care what kind of female they mate with, but they are hypersensitive to which female they mate with." Pinker explains that it is not a desire necessarily for a better female, but rather a new female. Men like loose women because they have more of a chance to have sex with them but want coy women for wives because it ensures that they are investing in their own genes.

How does the idea of a doomsday machine illustrate the functions of righteous anger and romantic love?

It illustrates the function of righteous anger by signaling to the offending party that an attack by them would necessitate a retaliation towards them. It illustrates Romantic love by signalling to one partner that the other is committed to them by an emotion of love. This talks directly about passion and doomsday devices: P412 "Is passion a doomsday machine? People consumed by pride, love, or rage have lost control. They may be irrational. The may act against their best interest. They may be deaf to appeals. But through this madness there is a method." These sacrifices of will and reason are effective tactics in the countless bargains, promises and threats that make our social relations. The intellect is designed to relinquish control to the passion so that it may serve as a guarantor of offers, promises and threats.The firewall between passion and reason has been programmed deliberately because only when passion is in control can it be a credible guarantor. Righteous anger is a credible deterrent o if it is uncontrollable and unresponsive to the deterrers costs

What is the conceivability argument for dualism? (p.38)

It is conceivable that there be zombies If it is conceivable that there be zombies, then it is metaphysically possible that there be zombies, and so physicalism is false Therefore, there are truth that the physical truth does not necessitate, and so physicalism is false You can conceive of your body existing without your mind or the opposite. The arguments concerning Mary and the zombies are two specific versions implying the general conclusion that there is a metaphysical gap between the physical and the phenomenal, and so physicalism is false. These arguments are reasonably straightforward. We can know all the physical facts about echolocation in bats, but we have no way of knowing what the experience of echolocation feels like to the bat.

Why isn't it reproduction, or happiness? How can evolutionary psychology still offer guidance toward finding happiness?

It's not reproduction because that is the gene's purpose It isn't happiness because if we achieve happiness there would be no tragedies? We are built to strive for it but not to achieve it? There is always a new thing to strive for once you reach a goal. Emotions - righteous anger, built to survive longer but not equivalent to happier. It might be easier and more beneficial to back down and be more submissive but it might not help you survive? What's the evolutionary purpose of happiness - to feel good, as a reward. It is an adaptive function to stimulate us to do the things we need to do to survive and reproduce. #p393, could he be contradicting himself? There is always going to be someone richer and those that have more resources than you so you are always striving for more. Keeping up with the Joneses and what not. So you are not meant to achieve this happiness but you are meant to strive towards it. The feeling of happiness is there to make us want it more to strive for more. We are built for tragedy because we The guidance EP gives us is to strive for the family and friends not the money and status. Though we're "designed" to want all of these, status and money are easier to compare (the first tragedy) and therefore lead to less happiness. We should also try to fool your nature by achieving happiness through art, movies, music, etc.

What is the lower form, and what is the higher, and how do they work in art, music, literature, humor, religion, and philosophy?.

Low culture is folk culture, not classical or intellectual. Example of folk culture art is YouTube videos of cats, art pieces in motels, fruit paintings (in most of history fruit was only available during certain time periods). Low art makes us feel good even though it doesn't help us survive and reproduce. Low art is a technique we figured out to trick ourselves into getting pleasure Low culture :Gives us pleasure - product that exploit avenues that should help us reproduce but now don't help us. Video games, Detective stories, romance novels, sci-fi. "Tricks you into thinking about a real pear but it's not a real pear" Same with romance novels - you are getting pleasure as if you are in the experience even though you aren't really experiencing that. Higher culture: Abstract art. Not for pleasure. "Higher art is really a sham" It's a way to show status and leisure from money you can purchase art. because of money - is it better art? Essentially no.

What is parental investment theory, and how does Pinker use it to try to explain some of the stereotypical differences between men and women?

Parental Investment: The time and energy that parents invest in raising their young and the risks that they incur to protect them. Men and women invest different amounts. A woman has a larger investment than a man and this causes her to be pickier with sexual partners. A man has a much smaller investment than a woman and is not tied down to the child. This is why men are not as picky and why they are stereotypically more sexually driven than women.

Why is there parent-offspring conflict, on Pinker's account?

Parents want to efficiently distribute their resources whereas children want to use as many resources as possible. This leads to sibling rivalry, or siblings competing amongst themselves for their parents' investment.

Which areas of human cognition are widely accepted as modular, evolved, and a matter of information processing?

Perception, language, and vision.

What are each of the following: phenomenal properties, protophenomenal properties, epiphenomenalism, panpsychism, dispositional properties, categorical properties, neutral monism?

Phenomenal properties are the properties that constitute our experiences (they are not categorized by disposition but by something intrinsic). Protophenomenal properties are the properties that ground physical, dispositional properties and ground consciousness. (p. 93). Epiphenomenalism suggests that properties have physical causes (feeling of pain in hand from touching hot stove), but not physical effects (the feeling of pain is separate from the action of pulling the hand away from the stove) (p. 77). Panpsychism is that every object has a consciousness. Dispositional properties are properties that are disposed to do certain things to other properties. Categorical properties are essentially phenomenal qualia; they are what they are. Neutral Monism is the view that the mental and the physical are two ways of organizing or describing the same elements, which are themselves "neutral", that is, neither physical nor mental. This view denies that the mental and the physical are two fundamentally different things. So, it's basically the opposite of dualism. Dualism says the mind and the body ARE two different things. Ponens and Tollens talk about Descartes, who is a dualist. Neutral monism- the view that the physical and the phenomenal are both manifestations of a single, more basic sort of property (83). The negative charge of an electron is its dispositional property - how it interacts with other atoms and electrons. The categorical properties are needed to define what an electron is. The protophenomenal properties are what ground these two things together.

What are the six "intuitive" intellectual abilities Pinker claims have the same three features, and provide the basis for the higher level sciences?

Physics, psychology, biology, mathematics, logic, probability

What are programmed computers really good at, and what are connectionist networks much better at?

Programmed computers are really good at math and memory. Connectionist networks are much better at pattern recognition. These basics are vision, motion, common sense, and motivation. Especially common sense which includes categories, facts, rules, relevant implications of knowledge.

What is Princess Elizabeth's objection to dualism involving the idea of nonspatial souls?

She objects that since souls are nonspatial, they are are not capable of doing the pushing and pulling that is expected of them (p. 13). This simply means that they have no way of interacting with physical objects since they have no physical connection to the world. They will not instigate a physical chain of actions and responses. This is also known as the mind/body problem. (page 14) Example = flushing the toilet in the women's room without leaving the men's room. Because it is "spatially isolated from physical things, it's causally isolated from those things".

How might a SSSM challenge these claims?

Society promotes sexually promiscuous men and discourages sexually promiscuous women.

What are the four main theories of personal identity, and what would each imply about whether a machine could have a mind that is in an important sense like ours?

Soul: same soul, mind: right continuity of experiences and memories, body: same body, brain:same brain. Whether one of the theories is true would determine what would be needed to give a machine a mind. The theories imply how a machine can have a similar sense like ours. Soul implies that it would not be possible for a machine to have a mind; it is even hard to prove humans have a soul as it is an incorporeal form. Mind implies that a machine is able to experience input in the right pattern...so Soul theory:No, Mind theory: Yes, if you are a computationalist/ modularity, Body theory: Yes, &. Memory: Yes.

Why does Pinker think these emotions are computational and modular?

The computational component concerns the internal calculations required to determine the validity of that feeling. For example, with fear, we determine the probability that something or someone will harm us. With modularity, it is the same as with disgust; we resist rational thinking (or are capable of acting contrary to the emotion). For instance, with liking, we may like someone who is emotionally and/or physically abusive to us and recognize that it is irrational but continue to like them.

What is the evolutionary function of happiness, and how does it lead to three tragedies?

The evolutionary function of happiness is to mobilize the mind to strive for objects that are conducive to survival and reproduction (389). The three tragedies of happiness are that people are happy when they are better off than their neighbors and unhappy when they are worse off, you are always striving for more happiness than you have now, and that you feel worse off from a loss compared to how good you feel from a gain. You are likely to experience these tragedies as you strive for survival. 1st tragedy: "Lest the perfect be the enemy of the good, the pursuit of happiness ought to be calibrated by what can be attained. If they can get it, perhaps so can you...people are happy when they feel better off than their neighbors, unhappy when they feel worse off" (390). 2nd tragedy: "people adapt to their circumstances, good or bad...from that neutral point, improvement is happiness, loss is misery" (391). 3rd tragedy: "There are twice as many negative emotions...as positive ones, and losses are more keenly felt than equivalent gains...As things get better, increases in fitness show diminishing returns: more food is better, but only up to a point. But as things get worse, decreases in fitness can take you out of the game: not enough food, and you're dead" (392)

What does it mean according to evolutionary theory to say the eye has a purpose or function? What is an adaptation, and what is an exaptation?

The eye is a disposition to which has led to the survival and reproduction of our ancestors. Pinker explains this saying "Having a clear lens (A) causes an eye to see well (B); seeing well causes the animal to reproduce by helping it avoid predators and find mates. The offspring (AA) have clear lenses and can see well, too. It looks as if the offspring have eyes so that they can see well (bad, teleologic, backward causation), but that's an illusion.The offspring have eyes because their parents' eyes did see well" (157). An adaptation is a trait that promotes survival and reproduction. An exaptation is something that has been adapted for something other than its original purpose. Cell phone and app example. Example: feathers originally being selected for because they helped regulate temperature, but later were adapted for gliding and then flight

How does evolution "explain the appearance of design without a designer"?

The process of natural selection preserves the best survival traits which are then passed on to the offspring and so on. Thus, by preserving the best survival traits along the generations natural selection creates the appearance of design without a designer. Also he uses the idea of the replicator to propose this design without designer idea. The story is as followed. There was a replicator. It was a product not of natural selection but of physics and chemistry. Replicators by nature want to multiply and use up material to do so. Over time the no copy is 100% plectrum errors occur. Some of these errors are for the better. This results over time are apparently well-engineered organisms. "Natural selection is not the only process that changes organisms over time. But it is the only process that seemingly designs organisms over time." P.158

What is the traditional mind/body problem, and how does computationalism seek to solve it?

The traditional mind/body problem is of how the mind is related to the body. Specifically the interaction between the mental: thoughts, beliefs, pains, sensations & the physical: matter, atoms, neurons. Computationalism tries to solve the mind-body problem by saying symbols both interpret information and actually executes the physical action. The mind-body problem is concerned with how the information in our brain translates into the physical actions of our bodies. The role of symbols solves this problem in that they can "simultaneously carry information and take part in a chain of physical events" (p. 76) In the context of the computational theory, symbols stand for some concept and mechanically cause things to happen (p. 71). Think of it like a math equation. The x can stand for a certain number, but it can also be applied in an equation to produce an answer. (mentalese)

Alter and Howell What is the knowledge argument for dualism? (pg 38)

There are truths that are not deducible from the physical truth, namely those Mary learns when she leaves the black-and-white room. If there are truths that are not deducible from the physical truth, then there are truths that the physical truth does not necessitate, and so physicalism is false. Therefore, there are truths that the physical truth does not necessitate, and so physicalism is false. Ponens says physicalism is false. Tonens and Bella thinks physicalism is true.

Why does Ponens propose that the properties most suited to be categorical are protophenomenal ones?

They are best suited to be categorical because they have the ability to ground physical, dispositional properties. They bridge the gap between the physical and the nonphysical. Answers the emptiness and integration argument.

Can machines think?

Turing poses a different question whether a computer can pass the Imitation game. The imitation game is essentially whether a computer is able to convince an interrogator that it's a human. If you support the computational theory of mind, however, you would most likely say that machines think much in the way that humans think.

What is Wallace's challenge, and how do the robot challenge and exaptation help Pinker answer it?

Wallace's challenge suggests that there is an apparent evolutionary uselessness of human intelligence (p. 300). If the "goal" of evolution is to promote survival and reproduction, why did we evolve to become intelligent because it seems unnecessary. He comes to this conclusion after observing "savages" and noticing that they were biologically the same as Europeans and could adapt and learn to think like Europeans, yet in their way of life supposedly did not demand the European level of intelligence. The concludes that it must have therefore been formed by a creator (300). Pinker would counter that he has not taken into account the idea of exaptation which attributes the evolution of intelligence. Ask Gampel (about robot challenge) The robot challenge is finding out how to make a robot human-like. We need to know what it takes to give a robot morals. One possible idea is programming the robot to learn. The robot would need to be programmed to have human morals, but this conflict is still unclear because we do not know what morals to give it. Exaptation describes a trait that has been co-opted for a use other than the one for which natural selection has built it. Pinker puts this simply when he says "Prospering as a forager is a more difficult problem than doing calculus or playing chess" (301).

What is the "problem of culture" according to Pinker?

We take interest in seemingly pointless things such as art, religion, humor, philosophy, music, etc. that offer no survival purpose

If you are a die-hard physicalist (like Tollens and Bella), what are you likely to say about whether Mary learns something?

You would say that Mary does not learn anything when she leaves the room. Even if we know all the physical facts about bats we will not know what the experience of echolocation feels like to them, but a physicalist would deny this. If Mary learns, then physicalism must be false, because she already knows all physical information, meaning any new information is inherently non-physical.

If you think Mary learns something when she leaves the room (like Nous and Pollens), what are you likely to believe about physicalism?

You would think that there are facts that are outside of the purely physical realm. Since Mary knows all things physical it would be impossible for her to learn anything when she leaves the room assuming that physicalism is true. Since she does learn something that must mean that she learned a non-physical fact. Therefore physicalism is false Physicalism = all truths are physical truths; all knowledge is physical