rlw@wxlvax.UUCP (Richard L. Wexelblat) (05/15/84)
Here is a thought which a friend and I have been kicking around for a while (the friend is a professor of philosophy at Penn): It seems that it is IMPOSSIBLE to ever build a computer that can truly perceive as a human being does, unless we radically change our ideas about how perception is carried out. The reason for this is that we humans have very little difficulty identifying objects as the same across time, even when all the features of that object change (including temporal and spatial ones). Computers, on the other hand, are being built to identify objects by feature-sets. But no set of features is ever enough to assure cross-time identification of objects. I accept that this idea may be completely wrong. As I said, it's just something that we have been batting around. Now I would like to solicit opinions of others. All ideas will be considered. All references to literature will be appreciated. Feel free to reply by mail or on the net. Just be aware that I don't log on very often, so if I don't answer for a while, I'm not snubbing you. --Alan Wexelblat (for himself and Izchak Miller) (currently appearing at: ...decvax!ittvax!wlxvax!rlw Please put "For Alan" in all mail headers.)