cam@edai.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm cam@uk.ac.ed.edai 031 667 1011 x2550) (06/01/89)
In article <54737@linus.UUCP> bwk@mbunix (Barry Kort) writes: >In article <386@edai.ed.ac.uk> cam@edai (Chris Malcolm) writes: > > > In fact, the reason why I sometimes fail to > > exercise my free choice to do the Right and Proper thing > > is that I sometimes lose control of myself, and am overcome > > by the determinism of some animal greed... > >Yeah, that happens to me too. Now and then my cerebral cortex >and my limbic system get into a contest and my rational mind >yields control to my pre-wired instincts. A notion I recall from school biology was that we have three nested brains: a lizard's brain, which provided the instincts and passions; a mammal's brain, which provided the emotions and moral feelings; and the cerebral thingy, which provided rational thought, pedantry, etc.. Before I get too taken with this notion, would anybody like to slander it? -- Chris Malcolm cam@uk.ac.ed.edai 031 667 1011 x2550 Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University 5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK