Re: virus: Level 3 minds

zaimoni@ksu.edu
Sat, 26 Oct 1996 13:50:28 -0500 (CDT)


On Fri, 25 Oct 1996, JPS wrote:

> Suggestion: Do not label the "mind" as level 3. Rather, label the
> "thought process". Thought processes are much easier to talk about
> than are "minds". At best then, if one still wants to label the
> "mind," say that it "is a mind capable of entertaining level 3
> thoughts," (even though it might not always be doing so).

Try classifying the level-n of a mind by the default thought mode: If X
is completely suprised, what mode does he think in?

> I like to think that I'm quite capable of operating in "level 3 mode,"
> only I find the day-to-day assessment of various factual information
> much easier to accomplish if I'm in "level 2 cruise control". (This
> is, in fact, a level 3 argument: I find it more "useful" to grind
> away in level 2 most of the time - just personal taste: it's much
> easier to arrive at the 'truth' for me. If a discussion requires
> me to utilize level 3 thinking, then I will - no problem.
>
> Examples:
> 1) Someone tells me that the Yankees beat the Braves in game 5, even
> though Smoltz and Wohlers combined to pitch a 0.00 ERA for the game.
> I say: "How strange! Is this true?" Then I watch the news, (a 'truth'
> authority (haha)), and find out that indeed, it is 'true', at which
> point I grumble about the Braves losing game 5. That is "level 2
> cruise control": find out what is true and be done with it. Level 3,
> on the other hand, (and as I understand it), would approach this along
> these lines: it doesn't care what is 'true', rather focuses on what is
> 'useful,' - In level 3, I would note all the seeming "facts," and then
> decide to accept the lesser of two evils: the non-fulfillment of my
> personal desire to see things as others seem to see things; or the
> non-fulfillment of my personal desire to see the Braves win. I choose
> that the lesser of the two evils is to accept this so-called "fact"
> that the Braves lost, and then behave in such a way that I feel will
> benefit me the most, (or do me the least harm): I grumble about the
> Braves losing game 5.
> Clearly, level 2 mode is easier to run in here.

Level-2 is a simpler default than level-3: but the default is usually the
simplest mode, barring extreme computational difficulties. Which do not
seem to be described above.

Actually, part of level-3 seems to work by explicitly programming level-2
responses.

[CLIP]

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/ Kenneth Boyd
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