Assignment
Entry 1: Perceptrons and Linear Separability
In no more than 300 words, discuss elementary (single-layer) perceptrons, the concept of linear separability, and the myth regarding these two concepts that is alleged to have led to the "connectionist winter". (You may use the examples of OR, XOR, etc., but you are not encouraged to use images as it is currently unclear which image file types can be used by TurnItIn.)
Entry 2: Phone Conversation
Follow this link and click on the audio track labeled 'New Recording 24'. Listen to it, but ignore the accompanying text comments that show up while it runs. I'd like your experience to be as pure as possible.
In no more than 500 words, answer the following questions:
How did your interpretation of the conversation change (or not) as it progressed and why? Try to be as specific as possible. You may also listen to 'New Recording 68'. (The one labeled 'Allison Maass' has nothing to do with this.) If you happen to have heard this audio before, give your best account of what you remember of it, perhaps along with your present experience of it.
How does this audio relate to things we've recently considered in class?
Entry 3: LOT and Systematicity
In no more than 400 words, explain how systematicity is supposed to motivate Jerry Fodor's Language of Thought (LOT) Hypothesis. To do this, you will need to describe the LOT sufficiently.
Entry 4: Myself and my brain: How do they (or "they") relate?
In no more than 700 words, and drawing on what we've seen in this class, address the question that titles this prompt. Note that by asking how "they" relate, we are not presupposing that they are different things (nor, of course, are we presupposing that "they" aren't). You may wish to consider the various theories of mind that Harnish considers under the subheading "The Competition". You may wish to revisit the Gary Marcus article we began with. You may wish to delve into the split-brain, hemispherectomy, and Wada test material we are looking at now. You are NOT asked or encouraged to do outside research or to report on the views of some expert in neuroscience, philosophy, AI, or the like. (Though if you do reference anyone, be sure to cite.) You are asked to address this issue as it currently seems to you in light of the work we've done in this class.