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mk  ·  4527 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: An Idea to Change All Ideas

Douglas Hofstadter has long argued that the basis for cognition is necessarily stochastic. I am apt to agree. However, I can't see why a non-organic brain can't function atop a stochastic foundation. In fact, Hofstadter takes this approach in some very basic problem solving programs, and has evidence that the result enables certain 'lower energy state' (he uses 'temperature') solutions that might be non-obvious, but more intellectually satisfactory or 'deeper'. Check out "The Copycat Project" in Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies.