creators_name: Dennett, Daniel
type: preprint
datestamp: 1998-03-13
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:46
metadata_visibility: show
title: Two Black Boxes: a Fable
subjects: phil-metaphys
subjects: phil-metaphys
full_text_status: public
abstract: Once upon a time, there were two large black boxes, A and B, connected by a long insulated copper wire. On box A there were two buttons, marked *a* and *b*, and on box B there were three lights, red, green, and amber. Scientists studying the behavior of the boxes had observed that whenever you pushed the *a* button on box A, the red light flashed briefly on box B, and whenever you pushed the *b* button on box A, the green light flashed briefly. The amber light never seemed to flash. They performed a few billion trials, under a very wide variety of conditions, and found no exceptions. There seemed to them to be a causal regularity, which they conveniently summarized thus:
date: 1992
date_type: published
refereed: FALSE
citation:   Dennett, Daniel  (1992) Two Black Boxes: a Fable.  [Preprint]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/247/1/twoblack.htm