I don’t see how you can think that saying “humanity can someday find a way to build such a machine” isn’t assuming the conclusion. That’s the conclusion, and it’s being used as an argument.
That is making commentary on the conversation with implied criticism of the other’s perceived misuse of semantic quibbling.
“[Y]ou seem to have a concept of ‘intelligence’ that’s entangled with many accidental facts about humans” is the conclusion. Slepnev assumes it. Therefore, Slepnev assumes the conclusion. (It would be a restatement of the conclusion if his earlier arguments hadn’t also just been assuming the conclusion.) That the assumption of the conclusion is only implicit in the criticism doesn’t make it any less unjustified; in fact, it makes it more unjustified, because it has overtones of ‘the conclusion I have asserted is obviously correct, and you are stupid for not already having come to the same conclusion I have’.
Remember, I mostly agree with Slepnev’s conclusion, which is why I’m especially annoyed by non-arguments for it that are likely to just be turnoffs for many intelligent people and banners of cultish acceptance for many stupid people.
I don’t see how you can think that saying “humanity can someday find a way to build such a machine” isn’t assuming the conclusion. That’s the conclusion, and it’s being used as an argument.
“[Y]ou seem to have a concept of ‘intelligence’ that’s entangled with many accidental facts about humans” is the conclusion. Slepnev assumes it. Therefore, Slepnev assumes the conclusion. (It would be a restatement of the conclusion if his earlier arguments hadn’t also just been assuming the conclusion.) That the assumption of the conclusion is only implicit in the criticism doesn’t make it any less unjustified; in fact, it makes it more unjustified, because it has overtones of ‘the conclusion I have asserted is obviously correct, and you are stupid for not already having come to the same conclusion I have’.
Remember, I mostly agree with Slepnev’s conclusion, which is why I’m especially annoyed by non-arguments for it that are likely to just be turnoffs for many intelligent people and banners of cultish acceptance for many stupid people.