Terren:My own feeling is that computation is just the latest in a series of technical metaphors that we apply in service of understanding how the universe works. Like the others before it, it captures some valuable aspects and leaves out others. It leaves me wondering: what future metaphors will we apply to the universe, ourselves, etc., that will make computation-as-metaphor seem as quaint as the old clockworks analogies?
I think this is a good important point. I've been groping confusedly here. It seems to me computation necessarily involves the idea of using a code (?). But the nervous system seems to me something capable of functioning without a code - directly being imprinted on by the world, and directly forming movements, (even if also involving complex hierarchical processes), without any code. I've been wondering whether computers couldn't also be designed to function without a code in somewhat similar fashion. Any thoughts or ideas of your own? ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=111637683-c8fa51 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
