Addendum Sorry a wee typo. I meant "*Yet* presumably brain cells, when lumped together into a brain..."
On 22 January 2014 17:08, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > On 22 January 2014 15:04, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Computation is the nested, recursive enumeration of uniform symbolic >> bodies. The effectiveness of computation derives from its metaphorical >> application to material bodies, which can, through physical properties, be >> manipulated to deliver results which satisfy our expectations. >> > > Sorry to be dense but what *is* "the nested, recursive enumeration of > uniform symbolic bodies" ? > >> >> Computation is not consciousness or sensation. It has no qualities of its >> own, and a computer would be just as happy producing Mandelbrot sets as >> noise, just as abacus beads are just as happy in a pattern that we might >> find meaningful versus one which seems random. >> > > I'm not sure if you are trying to imply something about the nature of the > brain and consciousness here, or not. Presumably brain cells "would be just > as happy" recognising granny or solving equations - that is, brain cells > take in signals from other brain cells, and if the sum of these exceeds > some threshold, they send out a signal of their own. This seems fairly > similar to what NAND gates do inside a computer. (Or what the cogs in a > difference engine do, or the floating weights in the Olympia computer do, > etc.) > > So one could equally well say, "what brain cells do is not consciousness > or sensation". Yes presumably brain cells, when lumped together into a > brain, manage to *produce* consciousness and sensation, and apparently > they do this through a process that is at least somewhat similar to what > the logic gates inside computers do. > > So, to clarify, are you claiming that consciousness *cannot be produced > by* computation, or just making the observation that the process of > computation is not the same thing as consciousness or sensation, much as my > brain isn't the same thing as my thoughts? > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
