[Wittrs] Re: Following a Rule
- From: "kirby.urner" <kirby.urner@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:27:25 -0700
On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 9:03 AM, jrstern <jrstern@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> --- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Rob de Villiers <wittrs@...> wrote:
>>
>> > The problem arises because some people like to
>> > say strange things such as "the brain is computing".
>> > And then other people, quite reasonably, ask what
>> > it means to say "the brain is computing". In my
>> > opinion, it doesn't mean anything.
>>
>> Indeed & agreed. I gathered you thought as much.
>> In the other thread I wondered whether Josh had read
>> the Bennett-Dennett-Hacker-Searle debate published as
>> Neuroscience & Philosophy....
>
> Sure, but gentlemen, might it be an easier question
> to ask what it means to say, "my computer is computing"?
>
> Is the answer really, "nothing interesting"?
>
> I know Neil, at least, has expressed some interest in
> whether it has a clock driving it - and presumably additional
> electrical power, in the kinds of actual chips that we use.
>
> Josh
You need to be more clear on whether humans and machines compete as
computers. If only computers compute, i.e. we've given them the title
and don't stand to compete, then that's less interesting.
My view is closer to:
Humans out-perform computers in so many ways it's not funny, but then
automating drudgery and allowing for errorless operation, provided no
one corrupts the code (always a danger) is a wonderful thing, so it's
the complement of human and machine computing that's a basis of our
way of life i.e. it's not either/or.
That being said, humans are not being "marginalized" by machines as
said machines are the work of humans (we design and understand them,
to a point) whereas humans are a work of nature and therefore way more
capable in ways we hardly begin to understand, though often don't
appreciate.
To the above I would quickly add that humans have never survived as an
only species, have always depended heavily on other animals, so the
computation we call culture (many cultures) is already deeply imbued
with non-human intelligence. Those who lives in cities in
mono-culture with other humans tend to forget this sometimes, although
many of them have pets.
Here in the Pacific Northwest (USA/Canada), we have several cultures
who don't need "stupid science" (the European kind, think
Springer-Verlag) to think in a more animist fashion (closer to
Wittgenstein's way) -- we call it Big Science, noting the record album
by that title.
Kirby
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