From: jeffrey E. <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2015 5:12 PM To: Noam Chomsky Subject: Re: Re: but they also act as a guiding star. lets try. . no harm. I fear that without them ,the chances are sli=mer of merely stumbling upon the aha. =br> On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 5:50 PM, Noam Chomsk= The third problem can be posed =93 though few will understand it. The first two can be posed but the=e is no known way to address them — the first for reasons that Dick Lewontin explained in his important paper on evolution of cognit=on (which those who write about the topic refuse to read), the second beca=se it reaches to issues that are total mysteries even in much simpler doma=ns — perhaps, though many don't to contemplate the fact, because of limits of human cognitive capacity. Puppet and puppeteer, again. There are lots of narrower problems that can be posed, but there are issues=of general import. What was very special, maybe unique, about Hilbert in 1900 was the advances=in the field had reached the point so that questions had that miraculous c=mbination of being (1) potentially within reach and (2) of very great impo=t for the field of mathematics. That's hard to achieve. Will think more about it — re=eating the Hebrew words to myself. Did you learn them as a kid in He=rew school? Noam From: jeffrey E. [mailto:[email protected] Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 5:09 PM To: Noam Chomsky Subject: Re: Re: I understand the limitations of questions too far fr=m the boundary of contemporary thought but as you speak =ebrew. i will paraphrase the reason you should consider posing the q=estions now. -- If not now. when? On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 3:59 PM, Noam Chomsky te: EFTA_R1_01621068 EFTA02496528

The main questions that interest me a=e about origin of the language faculty, which, I think, created modern humans, the most unusual, nutty, and remarkable of all biological p=enomena. There are two problems that seem beyond reach: the origin o= elementary human concepts, which appear to be radically different from an=thing in the animal world; and the "creative aspect of language use," the phenomenon that astonished Galileo, D=scartes, and other leading figures since. The third problem has to d= with what we've been calling "the Basic Property"=of language: a recursive procedure that generates an infinite array of hierarchically structured expressions interpreted at the interfaces, pr=marily the conceptual-intentional interface, providing a "language=of thought." The most fundamental question here is to what extent =he Strong Minimalist Thesis (SMT) holds, that is, to what extent has nature produced a perfect solution to the Basic Propert=, which underlies our creative capacities in language (and probably much e=se). That problem can be addressed, and has been, I think with some succes=. Very generous proposal. Made go=d sense for Hilbert in 1900, given the advances of the past century. These enabled him to formulate problems of deep mathematical significance =n a form that was not too far from contemporary understanding.</=> But my feeling is that the cognitive =ciences is nowhere near that stage. It's possible to pose ma=y narrower problems, and that's in fact what people work on from gra= school on to the limits of research. But understanding, I think, ha= probably not reached the stage where one can sensibly do what Hilbert did= Others incidentally disagree =93 as is usually the case. From: jeffrey E. [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 2:40 PM To: Noam Chomsky Subject: Re: Re: i will get you a response on israel. / 2. what does amaze you? interest you? . 3/ we could put together some chomsky questions for posterity, like hillberts , fermats etc. I am willing to fund a prize for solutions, Anonymo=sly if you prefer... I need to keep up your fun quotient. On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Noam Chomsky > =rote: Forty years ago, Israel was one of th= most admired countries in the world. Now it is most disliked. Forty years ago it was pretty clear, as I wrote at the time (and I was far=from alone), that those who call themselves "supporters of Israel=E2 are in fact supporters of its moral degeneration, international i=olation, constant conflict and 2 EFTA_R1_01621069 EFTA02496529

security problems, and maybe worse. So it has occurred. Israel even now has an of=icial whose task is to deal with international isolation.=/u> Israelis like to attribute all this to anti-Semitism, which hasn't =hanged in the past 40 years. Or to appeal to "we have no neg=tiating partner," which won't wash. The problem is n=t Netanyahu. The policies and problems are much deeper. The cr=cial question is how long and how far will Israel proceed on the course to self-destruct=on. A lot of work in AI, neural network t=eory, "Big Data and statistics," etc., is as you describe =E2 mimicking behavior (which I don't even find amazing or particularly interest=ng). But I think you underestimate the theoretical insights and expl=nations, such as the few I mentioned in the papers I sent, the theories th=t yield explanations for such surprising phenomena as rigidity and structure-dependence, with their far-reaching consequences= Those I think are the kinds of results that are rarely found outsid= the hard sciences. They don't mimic behavior, but explain f=ndamental properties of cognitive processes that enter into behavior, of course indirectly. And there's a lot=more like it. From: jeffrey E. [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 6:43 AM To: Noam Chomsky Subject: Re: Re: 1.do you have any specific questions for him? he thinks its not going in the right direction. ie. bibi, not strong enough to make tough decisions. . ehud trusts hamas more than abbas. I know you dont like telephones but we could set up a to=t exchange if you wanted to. 2. more important I use my coin flip analogy often. ie. . single cell=experiments, like looking through a microscope at my coin , measure =ts content it moment, its shape , all trying to figure out why=the result after a long while is always the same -equal number=of tails and heads. a consistent result. no algorithm , no=computation . Why i am pushing you on this , is that i f=rmly believe that language needs a theory, cognitive sci=nce needs a theory, your minions and intellectual offspring are like bio engineers --they will be able to mimic some of the behavior, =es it is amazing but not interesting. you have thought long an= hard and more importantly have seen what does NOT work. einsteins t=ought experiments led to truly remarkable results in physics. Im hoping that results like that can be achieved for biology=/p> t 11:05 PM, Noam Chomsky rote: Have a good weekend. I wonder what he=thinks about where the state is heading now. 3 EFTA_R1_01621070 EFTA02496530