barrington interview

Thomas Bitterman · 09 Oct 2014, 18:30 · from 2014-October.txt.gz

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From: tom at bitterman.net (Thomas Bitterman)
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2014 14:30:46 -0400
Subject: (urth) barrington interview
In-Reply-To: <BLU175-W4644B896C6822F8FA2A0DCCFA00 at phx.gbl>
References: <BLU175-W4644B896C6822F8FA2A0DCCFA00 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CA+Z2yj1OOnomkpc9wMYLDZw1pnU-bFVONpOHtjFyXL1yOeo+9g at mail.gmail.com>

On Thu, Oct 9, 2014 at 9:40 AM, Lee <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:


> A theoretical mathematician may feel he/she is working purely in the realm
> of symbolic logic and reason but it cannot be so.  The adult human brain
> is a
> product of millions of years of evolution on planet earth combined with
> decades
> of personal experience and perceptual input from the person's life.
>
> The suggestion that the human brain can somehow  decide to operate
> independently
> from its evolution and the personal experience which molded it is like
> saying a
> automobile could suddenly, spontaneously reject its engineering and
> construction and
> start running on nuclear fusion power technology. I don't see how it can
> possibly make
> sense.
>
> (is suggesting a car can't spontaneously become a nuclear fusion device an
> example
> of "Genetic Fallacy"?)
>

No, but claiming that a brain cannot work purely in the realm of symbolic
logic and reason because it is the product of millions of years of
evolution on Earth is.

-- 
"Language gives us everything - except the ability to talk, or even think,
about what it took from us in exchange." - Justin Boland
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