Everyday human information processing

Fringe consciousness
Essence / accident discrimination
Ambiguity tolerance

Dreyfus, Hubert L. (1965). Alchemy and Artificial Intelligence. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. S.65.

[…] the attempt to analyze intelligent behavior in digital computer language systematically excludes three fundamental human forms of information processing (fringe consciousness, essence/accident discrimination, and ambiguity tolerance) … This limit is manifest in each of the areas in which a uniquely human form of information processing is necessary to avoid the difficulties faced by digital computers. In these areas, if we restrict ourselves to information which can be fed to digital computers and yet try to write a program which rivals everyday human information processing, a contradiction develops within the program itself.

  • The Infinity of Facts and the Threat of Infinite Progression
  • The Indeterminacy of Needs and the Threat of Infinite Regress
  • The Reciprocity of Context and the Threat of Circularity