tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493101396674767317.post2485484240628077268..comments2023-10-17T10:29:57.984-04:00Comments on The Screaming Pope: The Recursive MindFrancishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07981546907877838890noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493101396674767317.post-4318571641407539992012-01-10T13:31:48.772-05:002012-01-10T13:31:48.772-05:00Two important points:
1.) "Mental time trave...Two important points:<br /><br />1.) "Mental time travel" is synonymous with (and reducible to) what others have customarily called "memory." Likewise, "theory of mind" is a synonym for what is called "empathy." Corballis's theory appears to be trying to put old in new bottles.<br /><br />Properly speaking, we should not not use the term "recursive" to describe these processes, since recursion is an operation performed upon on a given element in a set to generate the next element of that set.<br /><br />Memory cannot be said to work in such a mechanical manner. Far better would be to use a term like "re-entry," which suggests the recall of memories that are similar without being exact copies of each other.<br /><br />2.) A distinction should be made between the functioning of the brains of cetaceans and those of the apes, since there is strong evidence to suggest that the former are self-aware and possessed of complicated memory in ways that the latter are not.Art of RetroCollagehttp://blog.retrocollage.comnoreply@blogger.com