Feature request: Path append operators for strings

[Dicebot]

On Monday, 8 July 2013 at 21:46:24 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> Just because we have difficulty defining something is not a 
> reason to dismiss it as irrelevant or non-existent.

Sure, but there is an important difference between "dismissing" 
and "dismissing as a relevant scientific term to discuss". 
Speaking about possible self-awareness of computers is perfectly 
fine for a forum discussion but not acceptable for a scientific 
one. One needs a common well-defined terms to make progress.

> I'm sure you're self-aware, as I'm sure Siri and Watson are not.

I'll take it as a compliment :) But that is exactly what I am 
talking about - question if you consider someone self-aware is 
extremely interesting from the psychological point of view 
(probably even social psychology). For AI research important 
question is what properties do self-aware being has.

Those are related but different.

In a former case exact meaning of self-awareness is not important 
as you primarily study a person who makes a statement, not 
statement itself. In other words, it is not important what one 
means by "self-aware" but what thinking processes result in such 
tag.

The latter relies on research done in previous step to define 
properties of "self-aware" state that target AI needs to meet to 
be recognized as such by a wide variety of people. And, of 
course, as this relies on a common consensus, such concept is 
naturally very volatile. That is the main idea behind Turing test 
as far as I understand it.

> ... nor does it mean that personhood is not a very useful and 
> meaningful construct.

Even worse, now you use "personhood" as a replacement for 
self-awareness! :) It is a very dangerous mistake to use common 
words when speaking about consciousness and thinking - too much 
self-reflection involved.