Thanks for the comment and confirmation that Dreyfus is essentially a dualist/believes in souls/etc. I've idly had similar thoughts about the web of interconne

Thanks for the comment and confirmation that Dreyfus is essentially a dualist/believes in souls/etc. I've idly had similar thoughts about the web of interconnections of concepts. Our idea of "cat" is not a single unit but an array of different ideas of body shapes, fur colors, sensory touch experiences, sounds, and other concepts that are rolled into one word. I've often argued that general artificial intelligence will probably look like a complex series of individual 'utilitarian' components working on concert to achieve what looks to us like consciousness. A kind of "unix philosohpy" of AI: small, targeted tools working in concert to create a larger "operating system" of consciousness. I've taken a few undergraduate philosophy classes myself in addition to talking to many philosophy grad students. It pains me to see people waste so much time on this subject. Philosophy itself is wonderful. Academic philosophy is a hollow shell where all the significant subjects have branched off into their own disciplines, leaving the husk of theology parading as science. At least theologians have the honesty to admit they study theology. I would rather learn from engineering lore and draw from their wisdom on how to build complex systems than listen to academic philosophers.