On Wed, 20 Sep 2000, Philip Thrift wrote:

> On Wed, 20 Sep 2000 09:52:36 -0400, Todd Moody <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> >The catscan would tell you precisely nothing of what it is like to eat
> something.
>
> It could tell you something (correlation with other things eaten
> by observing the pattern of neuron firings).
> Remember, "this tastes good" is an abstraction and is not real.

I can't imagine why anyone would think that the way a food tastes
is an abstraction.  Are you saying that apples don't really taste
like anything?  The "average American family" is an abstraction;
the particular sensation that I have when biting into a
particular apple is not.

If I had never tasted an apple, no amount of brain scan readouts
could tell me what it tastes like.

> Aside from the debate, what is most troubling for me is role Bebe
> and the "Intelligent Design" group is playing in the attack on
> high school biology education (along with other creationist groups):
>
>      http://www.world-of-dawkins.com/box/behe.htm
>
> One could call them micro-creationists.

One could call them whatever one wants, I guess.  The fact is,
there is a real scientific debate going on.  I can't see any
reason why high school science students need to be protected from
it.

Todd Moody
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