From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Fri Jan 23 2004 - 10:33:55 EST
Paul C wrote: > The Universal Turing Machine has of course long been built, > Vonnegut wrote as the first prototypes were being developed. What wasn't built during Vonnegut's day or our own is a machine in which "all human mental activity" is replicated. Moreover, there is no sign that such a machine will be produced within the foreseeable future. In the CFP for the conference on "Marx, Marxism, and Global Management" (sent by Mike W on 1/21) there was repeated reference to "emotional labor." Clearly "emotional labor" is a form of labor that requires mental activity (as, of course, do all labor forms), yet -- despite some science fiction, like "The Stepford Wives" -- there is no reason to believe that emotional labor can be automated to the degree that machines are capable of performing this activity to the same degree of efficiency and sophistication. Computational ability can replicate only a limited range of human mental activities. In solidarity, Jerry
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