[Wittrs] Re: Is Computation too Static to Sustain a Mind?
- From: "c.moeller1" <cmoel888@xxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:16:36 -0000
--- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "SWM" <SWMirsky@...> wrote:
>
> --- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "BruceD" <blroadies@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > --- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "SWM" <SWMirsky@> wrote:
> >
> > > 2. Consciousness and thinking are dynamic processes, of which
> > computing has none.
> >
> > Stuart, what means "dynamic process" in this context?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > bruce
>
> Good question and the very point I was making, i.e., that "dynamic" and
> "static" can be used in a variety of ways, refer to a variety of phenomena.
> If so, then Charlie's proposal that they are self-contradictory does not
> imply that they are self-contradictory in this sense since applying these
> terms to brains, minds, computers and computer programming may simply involve
> using them in distinctly different senses. If so, it doesn't automatically
> follow that saying of computational operations that they are static rather
> than dynamic has any implications for the claim that consciousness is dynamic.
>
> But I think it is up to Charlie to state clearly what he means in each case.
> All I can do is note that the terms, while self-contradictory in one sense
> are not inherently so in all senses.
> snip >
>
> SWM
Hello again Wittrs!
All arithmetic and logic problems are solved or "evolved" via static
translation or transformation. The ancient philosophers dictated that time not
affect logical truth or falsity, so logic was henceforth considered in a
temporal vacuum. Time, they held, allows change, and change in a logical
statement can modify the relationship between antecedent and consequent,
between premise and conclusion. Change was forbidden in order to preserve the
usefulness and purity of static logic. (They did not realize it was possible
that temporal effects could be brought under logical management.) All
commonly-accepted logical forms are therefore essentially static
representations of conditions. Even if some aspect or quality of time, say
early, is to be considered, then it is made to be, and is defined and referred
to, and packaged, as a static condition (which can be memorized and
subsequently recalled and used as a reference for matching purposes). *Early,*
for instance, can be defined as *before 7 am.* If Joe arrives before (at a
numerical time less than) 7 am, his arrival is therefore early.
Modern computers have not changed that ancient prohibition against ongoing
time. The program lines are a means of accessing a sequence of logical
statements, one by one. For all the rapidity that such logic can be performed,
and even while appearing to be executing dynamic functions, each line of
program directs an evaluation of static representational logic in a timeless
instance.
The processes that a computer can accommodate are all static transformations or
translations and most can be executed via lookup tables. The processes that
support life and the processes that life produces are all dynamic. Where change
destroys a computer, stasis destroys life. The intrinsically dynamic can't be
completely- or well-described and analyzed with only static tools.
Best regards,
Charlie
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