Re: Laws of Intelligence -2

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 00:59:12 GMT, "R. Baldwin"
<res0k7yx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>"Zoe" <muze10@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:m90bq11be9nages11s10hsdqen403tt74p@xxxxxxxxxx
>> okay, where was I? Had we gotten to the point of agreeing that items
>> generally accepted to be made as a result of human intelligence
>> reflect consistent basic patterns of mental activity?
>>
>> If I remember aright, I was proffering that the consistent behavior of
>> creative mental activity can be described in terms of laws. If there
>> has not yet been full agreement on this, I would like to set aside my
>> shock and dispense with any objections with one fell swoop - or
>> two...or three. THEN we can march bravely forward to wield our
>> "mental activity" tools on other areas.
>
>Yes you did. It seems you lack an understanding of what "law" means in the
>realm of science. You repeatedly make up what you call "laws" without doing
>the underlying research to validate them. In science, the research comes
>first, not the laws.

I am not trying to invent laws. I am trying to describe consistent
behavior such that if the behavior is truly consistent, then it can be
considered a law. Such a description would be merely a "scientific
generalization based on empirical observations." My question is:
What are the empirical observations for mental activity?
>
>>
>> So, for instance, if I were to place before you three items: a
>> cardboard box, a flashlight, and a computer, what would cause you to
>> conclude that those items were made as a result of mental activity?
>> Would there be any doubts? If so, why? If not, what standards,
>> conscious or unconscious, may have been used to preclude doubts?
>
>Zoe, I rather suspect that our brains recognize these objects as created by
>humans because of the way our brains work. We have an associative memory
>that is particularly well suited to pattern recognition. That memory
>strongly associates metal cylinders, including flashlights, with humans at
>an early age. It does not strongly associate metal cylinders with forests,
>oceans, beaches, or pastures; or with cows, pigs, tigers, trees or
>dandylions. We also associate humans with fabrication at an early age, and
>we associate humans more strongly with houses and weakly with forests,
>oceans, beaches, and pastures. It is the strength of associations that tell
>us something was probably created by humans.

it is already taken for granted that our brains recognize certain
items as created by humans. It is these generally accepted items that
I am observing in an effort to see if there are consistent
characteristics for all these items.
>
>There are no standards, and it is by no means infallible. It is a
>probabalistic, heuristic scheme.
>
>I'll give you an example. This question that shows why object recognition is
>so difficult to define: What is a cup?

but Mr. R., I am not asking that question. I am not asking: what is
a cardboard box? what is a flashlight? what is a computer? I am
asking, what are the common characteristics of mental activity for all
such items generally accepted to be made by humans.

snip>

.

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