76 karma · joined March 5, 2012
Dijkstra asked me to sit in on one final oral exam which he was expecting to be tricky. It was a very intimidating atmosphere for the student.
Dennett models the mind on the idea of the computer. But computers are the products of human designers. Hence it makes no sense to try to explain the mind in terms of computers, since the existence of a computer itself presupposes the existence of a designing mind.
I read no further.
From the Abstract of the study:
“grammar-learning ability...is preserved almost to the crux of adulthood (17.4 years old) and then declines steadily”
“The results support the existence of a sharply-defined critical period for language acquisition”
From the commentary:
“It’s not even true that young children learn languages faster than older children or adults”.