Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

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The Soul of Martha a Beast 107innate linguistic ability, a sort of “primal grammar” hat all languages would share at asufficiently deep level. Thus chimps and other primates not sharing our primal grammarwould be essentially different from us.Others have agreed that the primates who – or do I mean “that”? – give theappearance of suing language are doing something very different from what we do whenwe use language. Rather than communicating – that is, conveying private ideas into thecommon currency of signs in patterns – they are manipulating symbols that to them haveno meaning, but whose manipulations can achieve desired goals for them. To a strictbehaviourist, this idea of distinguishing between external behaviours on the basis ofhypothetical mental qualities such as “meaning” is absurd. And yet such an experimentwas once carried out with high-school students instead of primates as the subjects. Thestudents were given coloured plastic chips of various shapes and were “conditioned” tomanipulate them in certain ways in order to obtain certain rewards. Now, the sequencesin which they learned to arrange the chips in order to get the desired objects could in factbe decoded into simple English requests for the objects – and yet most of the studentsclaimed to have never thought of matters this way. They said that they detected patternsthat worked and patterns that didn’t work, and that was as far as it went. To them it feltlike an exercise in meaningless symbol-manipulation! This astonishing result mayconvince many people that the chimp-language claims are all wishful thinking on the partof anthropomorphic animal lovers. But the debate is far from settled.However, whatever the realism of our excerpt, many moral and philosophicalissues are well posed. What is the difference between having a mind – intellect – andhaving a soul – emotionality? Can one exist without the other? The justification given forkilling Martha is that she is not as “valuable” as a human being. Somehow this must be acode word for the idea that she has “less of a soul” than a human does. But is degree ofintellect a true indicator of degree of soul? Do retarded or senile people have “smallersouls” than normal people? The critic James Huneker, writing of Chopin’s Etude opus 25no. 1, said “Small souled men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid it.” Whatan incredible pronouncement! Yet it has a certain truth to it, snobbish and elitist though itmight be to say so. But who will provide the soul meter?Is the Turing test not such a meter? Can we measure the soul through language?Needless to say, some qualities of Martha’s soul come through loud and clear in herutterances. She is very appealing, partly through her physical appearance (actually, howdo we know this?), partly
The Soul of Martha a Beast 108through the fact of our identifying with her, partly through her charmingly simple-mindedsyntax. We feel protective of her as we would of a baby or small child.Well, all these devices and more will be exploited – even more insidiously! – inthe following passage, another selection from The Soul of Anna Klane.D.R.H.
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PrefaceWhat is the mind? Who am I?
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from Mars. Your narrow escape from
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you from your brain in a brain swit
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the most mysterious feature of our
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are the paradigmatic conscious crea
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For Locke, indeed, there was a seri
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ence has begun to analyze the human
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simulations, illusions. Free will,
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Borges and I 20ming of a guitar. Ye
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Borges and I 22Asked to “translat
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On Having No Head 24Downwards in a
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On Having No Head 26One’s life to
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On Having No Head 28my nonentity he
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On Having No Head 30Fantastic pictu
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On Having No Head 32Them both, we a
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3Harold J. MorowitzRediscovering th
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Rediscovering the Mind 36No general
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Rediscovering the Mind 38Before in
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Rediscovering the Mind 40Circle - f
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Rediscovering the Mind 42uniquely h
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Rediscovering the Mind 44Be shown t
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Rediscovering the Mind 46to this ve
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Rediscovering the Mind 48which stor
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4A.M. TURINGComputing MachineryAnd
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Computing Machinery and Intelligenc
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Page 64 and 65: 5Douglas R. HofstadterThe Turing te
Page 66 and 67: A Coffeehouse Conversation 71SANDY:
Page 68 and 69: A Coffeehouse Conversation 73PAT: E
Page 70 and 71: A Coffeehouse Conversation 75canes.
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Page 78 and 79: A Coffeehouse Conversation 83on eit
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Page 86 and 87: A Coffeehouse Conversation 91CHRIS:
Page 88 and 89: A Coffeehouse Conversation 93includ
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Page 92 and 93: The Princess Ineffabelle 97Dunes we
Page 94 and 95: The Princess Ineffabelle 99disappoi
Page 96 and 97: The Soul of Martha a Beast 101Close
Page 98 and 99: The Soul of Martha a Beast 103The r
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Page 104 and 105: 8TERREL MIEDANERThe Soul ofthe Mark
Page 106 and 107: The Soul of the Mark III Beast 111H
Page 108 and 109: The Soul of the Mark III Beast 113p
Page 110 and 111: The Soul of the Mark III Beast 115I
Page 112 and 113: Spirit 120A river or a rock, writes
Page 114 and 115: Spirit 122footprint. Not life’s;
Page 116 and 117: 10RICHARD DAWKINSSelfish GenesAnd S
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Page 141 and 142: Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 150world. I
Page 143 and 144: Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 152Pierre d
Page 145 and 146: Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 154about it
Page 147 and 148: Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 156ACHILLES
Page 149 and 150: Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 158dominant
Page 151 and 152: Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 160
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 162ACHILLES
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 164by, uhh-
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 168involved
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 172some dis
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 174CRAB: No
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 178as long
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 182ANTEATER
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 184to help
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 186CRAB: Wh
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 192anthropo
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 194of the s
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 196that the
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 198chime st
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Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 200tion or
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12ARNOLD ZUBOFFThe Story of a Brain
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The Story of a Brain 204had been br
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The Story of a Brain 206neuron of t
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The Story of a Brain 208periencing
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The Story of a Brain 210have to mis
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The Story of a Brain 212this physio
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13DANIEL C. DENNETTWhere am I?Now t
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Where am I? 219circuit chips, plast
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Where am I? 221Barring capital puni
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Where am I? 223warms my gullet whil
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Where am I? 225uniqueness of that t
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Where am I? 227switch now set at B.
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Where am I? 229where I am. But such
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Where am I? 231like as identical tw
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Where was I? 233..If we can bypass
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Where was I? 235It enables most of
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Where was I? 237Tin Woodman, whose
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Where was I? 239on the messy typesc
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Where was I? 241sensational thing M
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Beyond Rejection 243that it would t
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Beyond Rejection 245looked like a c
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Beyond Rejection 247with some mirro
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Beyond Rejection 249tion after a fi
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Beyond Rejection 251As my hand move
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16RUDY RUCKERSoftwareCobb Anderson
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Software 255tentative first sip. He
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Software 257your contact up there.
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Software 259and on top was a sensor
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Software 261This was worse than Ral
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Software 263sun was angling right d
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Software 265The gates and switches
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Software 267The Soul of the Mark II
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The Riddle on the Universe and its
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The Seventh Sally 288sallies of Tru
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The Seventh Sally 290Excelsius was
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The Seventh Sally 292brains, but in
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The Seventh Sally 294vertently-in y
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19Stanislaw LemNon ServiamProfessor
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Non Serviam 298which there takes pl
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Non Serviam 300ance with their beha
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Non Serviam 302It were, a self real
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Non Serviam 304The harmonizing of t
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Non Serviam 306complicated as it mi
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Non Serviam 308ceeded -- says Dobb
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Non Serviam 310in turn begat DANN a
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Non Serviam 312ments to support it
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Non Serviam 314Correcting his handi
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Non Serviam 316Rebuke, not the hope
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Non Serviam 318Around on a table to
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Non Serviam 320ries, the larger the
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Is God a Taoist? 322GOD: If you don
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Is God a Taoist? 324GOD: So you ref
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Is God a Taoist? 326Omniscience, bu
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Is God a Taoist? 328MORTAL: What po
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Is God a Taoist? 330GOD: I meant th
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Is God a Taoist? 332GOD: Not at all
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Is God a Taoist? 334get done. In mo
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Is God a Taoist? 336MORTAL: Of cour
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Is God a Taoist? 338of nature. What
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Is God a Taoist? 340I can see by yo
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Is God a Taoist? 342Are “inner pe
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21Jorge Luis BorgesThe Circular Rui
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The Circular Ruins 346the vain ligh
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The Circular Ruins 348with these di
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The Circular Ruins 350"If I wasn't
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The Circular Ruins 352it doesn't "k
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Minds, Brains and Programs 354progr
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Minds, Brains and Programs 356prete
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Minds, Brains and Programs 358cases
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Minds, Brains and Programs 360cause
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Minds, Brains and Programs 362on th
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Minds, Brains and Programs 364corre
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Minds, Brains and Programs 366but a
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Minds, Brains and Programs 368by co
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Minds, Brains and Programs 370opera
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Minds, Brains and Programs 372proje
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Minds, Brains and Programs 374as he
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Minds, Brains and Programs 376Knob
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Minds, Brains and Programs 378You m
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Minds, Brains and Programs 380late"
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Minds, Brains and Programs 382are w
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An Unfortunate Dualist 384ding the
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An Unfortunate Dualist 386long-term
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An Unfortunate Dualist 388Ripper wa
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 392of
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 394jec
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 396des
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 398nat
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 400ces
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 402sen
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 404lan
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 406The
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 408com
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 410rep
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 412bat
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 414Lan
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An Epistemological Nightmare 416FRA
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An Epistemological Nightmare 418EPI
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An Epistemological Nightmare 420is
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An Epistemological Nightmare 422FRA
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An Epistemological Nightmare 424dec
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An Epistemological Nightmare 426red
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An Epistemological Nightmare 428ano
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26Douglas R. HofstadterA Conversati
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A Conversation with Einstein’s Br
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Fiction 462him. And if he writes th
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Fiction 464wouldn't it be true for
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Further Reading 466"enter and infor
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Further Reading 468Hugh Everett's o
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Further Reading 470logic, see Howar
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Further Reading 472is Pamela McCord
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Further Reading 474who wants to dec
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Further Reading 476Fictional object
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Further Reading 478Two other recent
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Further Reading 480than phenomena t
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Further Reading 4821972), a harrowi
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IndexAbelson, Robert P:, 473, 477ab
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Index 486in, 11-12; and propagation
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Index 488devil, nature of, 334, 342
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Index 490game of Life, 319-20, 385,
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Index 492Jaynes, Julian, 468-69jeal
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Index 494ear" nature of, 294; nonqu
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Index 496physical symbol system, 36
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Index 498scribes, 128Scriptures, 38
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Index 500systems theory, 358-62, 37
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