Stathis Papaioannou wrote: > 2009/1/14 Brent Meeker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> However a Turing machine is not just a set of states, it also requires a >> set of transition rules. So in the same abstract way that the integers >> are ordered by "succession" the computational states of a Turing machine >> are ordered. Whether just abstract rules, without implementation, are >> sufficient isn't clear to me. > > In an actual physical computer the transition rules are represented by > the causal links between the states, so that a particular input will > reliably give rise to a particular output. But I return to my question > about what would happen if there were a discontinuity in a sequence of > states, so that s1 to s10 on m1 are causally linked, s11 to s20 on m2 > are causally linked, but there is no link between m1 and m2, i.e. m2 > just happens to start in s11 accidentally. Assuming that s1 to s20 > occurring in a single machine results is a few moments of > consciousness (which is to say, assuming that computationalism is > true), what would happen if the sequence is broken in the way just > described?
I suspect something is lost. You are thinking of the states as abstract steps in a computer program. But a computer program requires a computer to run and the computer implements distributed spatiotemporal links. In general you cannot take even a digitial computer and freeze it in a instant of time, call that a state, and restart it without any effects. Switches are in intermediate states, EM waves are propagating, electrons are diffusing - it is not a static thing like a step in a program. In terms of Bruno's teleporter, one might say yes accepting that there would be a one-time gap in consciousness (ever had a concussion?), but one would probably hesitate if the there was to be a gap every 10ms. Brent --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
