Re: how fast do you type?

by Norc Sun Sep 22, 2013 7:58 pm

halfwise wrote:I don't think so. It's like driving on a dark night with headlights set low just ahead of the car, or with high beams so you can see the turns coming up. Different speeds are possible if you can anticipate.

i am guessing u look at the keyboard while typing and not on the screen.

by Norc Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:00 pm

me:

how fast do you type? - Page 2 FridayEmail

everyone els:
how fast do you type? - Page 2 Tumblr_lu9p4sUPSm1qa6yzg

by halfwise Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:03 pm

I look at the screen, or actually glance at it and think as my fingers do their thing. Never look at fingers, that's like trying to think about how you walk - you'll fall right over.

by halfwise Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:04 pm

Back to the dragon dictation:

original: "Blimey you Wanker!"
Attempt #1: "Blaming you Quaker!"
Attempt #2: "Blimey Yuuaikai"

scratch

by Eldorion Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:10 pm

halfwise wrote:Attempt #1: "Blaming you Quaker!"

by Norc Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:13 pm

halfwise wrote:I look at the screen, or actually glance at it and think as my fingers do their thing.

then i don't know why you're complaining at the test. cus when u read, u read at the trail of thought, so it is actually faster than if you were to come up with a sentence yourself to write.

ergo the test tests how fast u type a word, not how fast u can think of a lot of words and type them.

by halfwise Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:25 pm

If you know anything about computers, you know it is faster to read data as a chunk instead of bit by bit. I read a sentence, my fingers go, I'm free to think about meaning before getting to the next one.

by Norc Sun Sep 22, 2013 9:06 pm

ur brain is not a computer. but anyway, u still read a chunk of information in that test.

by David H Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:52 pm

Norc wrote:ur brain is not a computer.

ummm...I think it is really. Nod

by Pettytyrant101 Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:58 pm

Id say the brain is not a computer, but computers act very much like brains. drunken

by Norc Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:07 pm

yeah, what petty said Smile

by David H Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:15 pm

See first definition from my dictionary:

computer n. 1. one who or that which computes. 2. an electronic apparatus that can carry out mathematical and logical operations at high speed and display the results, and can be programmed.

by Pettytyrant101 Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:25 pm

Very handy, if we ever meet a race of aliens that compute instead of perceive we will already have a definition to fit them. Very forward thinking your dictionary Very Happy

by David H Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:47 pm

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Very handy, if we ever meet a race of aliens that compute instead of perceive we will already have a definition to fit them. Very forward thinking your dictionary

Or backward thinking. Imagine rooms of dozens of people sitting at desks with mechanical adding machines in front of them, each performing one step in a complex calculation before passing it on to the next person as dictated by the master flow chart. That's how computer programming was invented, long before the "electronic computer". That's how two world wars were fought. The electronic computer just sped up the process and worked cheaper.

But back to the case in question. Norc claims that Halfy's brain is not a computer. Yet he's demonstrated over and over again that that's exactly how his brain understands the world around him -- in terms of data. If you can't quantify it and test it, it's not real to him. That sounds like computation to me. And that which computes is a computer by definition 1. What's the question? scratch

by Pettytyrant101 Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:49 pm

All very well and good David, but computers do not perceive and have no self awareness, both products of the functioning of a brain. Ergo brains are not computers, but Halfy might be either. Nod

by Mrs Figg Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:02 am

halfwise wrote:Back to the dragon dictation:

original: "Blimey you Wanker!"
Attempt #1: "Blaming you Quaker!"
Attempt #2: "Blimey Yuuaikai"

''Blimey Urukhai''
''Blimey you look high''
''Blimey Apple pie''

Mad

its my fookin accent

by David H Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:02 am

Pettytyrant101 wrote: but computers do not perceive and have no self awareness,

That's an awfully harsh judgement to pass on all those women sitting at their adding machines! Mad

It would be more correct to say that computers do not necessarily have perception or self-awareness. The "perception" line is getting fuzzier and fuzzier all the time as better analytic functions and sensor interfaces come along. And any test for self awareness that your cat or dog could pass will eventually be achievable by an electronic computer, possibly within our lifetime. Do they stop being computers at that point?

by Pettytyrant101 Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:08 am

For me yes they do.
My definition of life is something which can perceive, is self aware of its own perception and itself within that perception and can make autonomous decisions based on that perception.
If we ever get to that stage that for me would qualify as life, I dont rate as highly a definition of life that limits it to the type of machinery that produces those effects. Mechanical or biological doesn't figure very highly for me in that equation.

by David H Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:14 am

I understand that There does seem to be a human need to differentiate ourselves from THEM.

There was a time not too long ago when it was said that a computer could never beat a good chess player because they were unable to reason-- that quality that sets humans apart from animals( so we claim). And yet did you see WATSON clean up on the best Jeopardy champions a couple years ago?

So now we've lost the battle of reason, and we seem to be retreating to something we share with many other animals.

But (and here's the tricky bit) where does self awareness stop? Mice have it. Do snails? Do midges? Do the little micro-organisms in the water that give tourists diarrhea have it?

What's the test? Halfwise needs to know!

by Pettytyrant101 Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:21 am

But (and here's the tricky bit) where does self awareness stop?- David

Unfortunately that's not a question I think science is equipped to answer.
Its a bit like asking why we perceive and feel as we do, and the answer is because this is what its like to be a human brain operating.
To know whats its like for a snail you have to be a snail, operating.

by Mrs Figg Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:25 am

I thought self awareness was measurable to a certain extent, the mirror test for example. Only higher primates like Chimps, Gorillas and Orangs and Dolphins displayed self awareness, monkeys and cats do not.

by David H Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:33 am

Well I'm pretty sure my previous cat had figured the mirror out.
And I doubt it would be hard to program a computer to recognize a projection of itself.
Now the question is Halfwise....

by Mrs Figg Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:35 am

by halfwise Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:45 am

David H wrote:
But back to the case in question. Norc claims that Halfy's brain is not a computer. Yet he's demonstrated over and over again that that's exactly how his brain understands the world around him -- in terms of data. If you can't quantify it and test it, it's not real to him. That sounds like computation to me. And that which computes is a computer by definition 1. What's the question?

Due to this discussion of my mind I'm becoming less and less sure I'm aware of the reality around me. Or really less sure of the awareness around me. Or where the reality is most sure. Or what I'm really wearing. drunken

So I'm reduced to "I compute, therefore I mind." But what do I mind? Maybe I mind Norcs who don't think reading whole sentences is more computationally efficient than disconnected groups of words? Shrugging

by Pettytyrant101 Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:49 am

I'm becoming less and less sure I'm aware of the reality around me. Or really less sure of the awareness around me. Or where the reality is most sure. Or what I'm really wearing.- Halfwise

Add an angry Mrs Figg to that and you just described my life! drunken