[FRIAM] Intentionality - the mark of the vital

[Jochen Fromm]

I have finally read the article "Intentionality is 
the mark of the vital". It contains interesting 
remarks about the mind/body problem, about the
relationship between mental and material "substance",
and nice illustrations (for example about lions and gnus).
Well written. 

If "intentionality is the mark of the vital",
are artificial agents with intentions the first 
step towards vital, living systems ? Agents are
of course used in artificial life, but in the
context of the article the question seems to
gain new importance.

-J.
________________________________

From: Nicholas Thompson
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 3:20 AM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: [FRIAM] self-consciousness

For those rare few of you that are INTENSELY interested by the recent
discussion on self consciousness, here is a paper on the subject  which
asserts that every organism must have a point of view.  
 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/id14.html