Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

A Conversation with Einstein’s Brain 439TORTOISE: How's that? What do you mean? Did I say something untoward?ACHILLES: Now, Mr. T, I assume that in the heavy tome under discussion, there wouldbe numerical conversion tables, which accomplish precisely the tasks just setforth. They would give the neural response of each auditory neuron to any tone;and they would give the changes in mouth shape and vocal-cord tension as afunction of the neurons linked to them by nerves in Einstein's body.TORTOISE: Right you are.ACHILLES: How could such an extensive documentation of Einstein do anybody anygood?TORTOISE: Why, it could do no good for anyone, except conceivably some starvingneurologist.ACHILLES: So why have you proposed this stupendous volume, this prodigious opus?TORTOISE: Why, only to tickle my fancy as I mused on mind and brain. But it mayserve as a lesson to novices in the field.ACHILLES: Am I one?TORTOISE: Doubtless. You'll do very well as a test subject in illustrating the merits ofsuch a book.ACHILLES: I somehow can't help wondering what old Einstein would think of it all.TORTOISE: Why, given the book, you could find out.ACHILLES: I could? I would not know where to begin.TORTOISE: You would begin by introducing yourself.ACHILLES: To whom? To the book?TORTOISE: Yes-it's Einstein, isn't it?ACHILLES: No, Einstein was a person, not a book.TORTOISE: Well, that's a matter for some consideration, I'd say. Didn't you say thatthere is music stored in playing-records?ACHILLES: I did, and what's more, I described to you how to get at it. Instead of aplaying-record being there "all at once," we can use an appropriate needle andother apparatus and extract real, living music from it, which emerges "a bit at atime" just like real music.TORTOISE: Are you implying that it is only some kind of synthetic imitation?