2009/8/19 Jesse Mazer <laserma...@hotmail.com>: >> >> I completely agree that **assuming primary matter** computation is "a >> >> physical process taking place in brains and computer hardware". The >> >> paraphrase argument - the one you said you agreed with - asserts that >> >> *any* human concept is *eliminable* >> > >> > No, reducible, not eliminable. That is an important distinction. >> >> Not in this instance. The whole thrust of the paraphrase argument is >> precisely to show - in principle at least - that the reduced concept >> can be *eliminated* from the explanation. You can do this with >> 'life', so you should be prepared to do it with 'computation'. > Well, not if you believe there are objective truths about computations that > are never actually carried out in the physical world, like whether some > program with an input string a googolplex digits long ever halts or not.
Yes, but here - in connection with Peter's apparent support for the Quinean concept-reduction argument - I was specifically commenting on the status of 'computation' **if** you assume primitive matter. In that case, I'm not sure what "never actually carried out in the physical world" would mean. David > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
