Marvin Minsky/Talk

Could somebody explain what is this koan about ? It isn't very understandable for a random person. --Taw

I have no actual knowledge. But it seems by analogy that the point is that just as closing your eyes does not make a room empty, randomly wiring a neural net does not cause it to lack preconceptions of how to play. Presumably, it has random preconceptions, but preconceptions nonetheless. There may be some deeper lesson here in that we cannot build an artificial intelligence that is "pure" in the sense of "not depending on hardware or software". --Jimbo Wales

The whole point of a koan is not that it has an answer, but that it clarifies the problem. It's not supposed to have an explanation, really. It is just supposed to get you asking the right questions. --Dmerrill