Selected Quotes

OVERVIEW OF MODEL Reiff Valliant & Co. OVERVIEW OF MODEL Reiff Valliant & Co.

Overview of the Course - SCHISM and etc.

Lecture Notes for Class in Sci and Phil #3 Oct 1966

BJS: This paper is a must read in it’s entire. It gives the most concise and clear overview of Putnam’s ideas.

Some BJS comments
Decisions in science are local. Decisions in morals are global.

Moral decisions involve the will. Science decisions do not involve the will. The opportunity for ‘will’ has been precluded. It is the mechanical connection of neurons, independent of will, or personality, or feelings that rule in science - Probability in the longest sense.

We are increasingly faced with making moral decisions that apply to science decisions: when does life begin? when does life end. Are we responsible for life?creating it? ending it? where do we look for answers? We look in our common history in morals and ethics.

Science discipline, however, is constructed with rigid rules, closing out any considerations other than science.

Where then is room for God? Answer: Probability - which is the fundamental, at the heart of our every move and can be considered the missing ‘God” link. God is in the numbers.

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OVERVIEW OF MODEL Reiff Valliant & Co. OVERVIEW OF MODEL Reiff Valliant & Co.

Lower Animals vs Higher animals - regarding learning

Putnam/Fuller NS Model 1964 pg 8

PUTNAM/FULLER NS MODEL 1964 pg 8

In lower animals sensory stimulus elicit stereotype response. In higher animals learning becomes more possible by a loosely wired-up network of defuse random interconnections which interconnections can be, in effect, altered by the CRP. A general mode of operation replaces a uniquely wired-up gadget, making possible greater adaptability. CRP - Conditioned Reflex Principle

Edited by BJS

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