Computation and Human Experience (RRE)

[Dace]

-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Fitch
>
>Dace:
>> Since computation itself is strictly a function of the mind, there's
really
>> no such thing as a computer.  What actually exists in the world is a box
>> full of stuff.  We imagine it's a computer only because what happens in
that
>> box has the same outcome we produce when we compute.
>
>In that case one should be able to decide that any object,
>collection of stuff, or indeed imaginary entity is a computer.

I forget who said that a thermostat is a computer with two thoughts: It's
too cold (switch on the furnace), and it's no longer too cold (switch off
the furnace.)  But if you operate it manually, flicking it on when you feel
cold and off when you feel warm again, then it's not a computer, because it
doesn't do anything; it doesn't make any computations-- that is, it doesn't
do what we do when we make computations.  Whatever "thoughts" a "computer"
seems to have are projections of our imagination.


>In fact it would be rather odd if mental acts and states did
>not enter into _all_ objects which are worked on by conscious,
>purposive beings, especially tools.  What would keep them out?

That our tools reflect our consciousness does not mean they contain it.
Even the brain does not contain consciousness (any more than space contains
time.)

Ted