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treeseed commented on the word ghost in the machine
The ghost in the machine is British philosopher Gilbert Ryle's derogatory description for René Descartes' mind-body dualism. The phrase was introduced in Ryle's book The Concept of Mind, written in 1949, to highlight the perceived absurdity of dualist systems like Descartes' where mental activity carries on in parallel to physical action, but where their means of interaction are unknown or, at best, speculative.
_Wikipedia
February 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word ghost in the machine
It's also used to describe emergent intelligence in computer programs.
February 13, 2008