From: rm382@cam.ac.uk   
      
   Thanks for your replies, guys.   
      
   Ted, i think you've highlighted a bit of a chicken and egg problem   
   going here; what you're saying is "i don't think it's possible to   
   construct a unified theory of cognition, becuase no one's managed to   
   create one yet" from which you imply "so don't bother trying to unify;   
   just knock up an expert system ad-hoc when you need one". i think it's   
   precisely this attitude which has landed us in the situation we're in   
   today; i think 99% of researchers have _simply given up_ on the idea of   
   such a theory, and hey presto - no one's found it!   
      
   "Category theory is very unlikely to actually provide much insight into   
   building real systems precisely because it is so meta-theoretical"   
      
   then what is cognition? is cognition not the ultimate meta-meta- ... -   
   theory? read Godel, Echer Bach or the Emporer's New Mind and you'll   
   find that the one point Penrose and Hofstadter consistenty make is that   
   human intelligence can "meta out" of any fixed theory. i think you've   
   just highlighted the biggest advantage of this approach!   
      
   sorry Ted, i'm not having a go at you personally, i just disagree!   
      
   Randy, thanks very much for the suggestions. I've skimmed them, and   
   what i see is a lot of isolated stabs in the dark... but that's better   
   than nothing! also they're all from mediocre universities. hmmm. what   
   does this tell me... that it's a dead end, or that the good   
   universities are too scared to do research that has risk attached to   
   it... I mean where's cambridge? oxford? imperial? mit? caltech? ...   
      
   I'm certainly looking for someone to do a PhD into this under, so if   
   anyone has any recommendations then please get in touch   
      
   many thanks   
      
   ' Thinker   
      
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