On 26 October 2015 at 17:51, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 26/10/2015 5:32 pm, Stathis Papaioannou wrote: > > On 26 October 2015 at 17:08, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> On 26/10/2015 5:01 pm, Russell Standish wrote: >> >>> On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 03:40:45PM +1100, Bruce Kellett wrote: >>> >>>> I think Carroll's Paradox (or 'What the Tortoise Said to Achilles') >>>> effectively undermines computationalism, or any argument that >>>> arithmetic is prior to physics. >>>> >>>> See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Tortoise_Said_to_Achilles >>>> >>>> In order to escape the paradox, you have to resort to a formalist >>>> approach, and that renders the formalism devoid of semantic content. >>>> >>>> I don't see why that undermines computationalism. Could you please >>> expand? >>> >> >> Modus ponens is only a formal manipulation of symbols, with no semantic >> content. > > > This is an argument John Searle has made. The problem is, the brain can > also be described as manipulating symbols with no semantic content - so > where does semantic content come from? > > I can point at it, or when I kick the dog, he yelps. > The same with an appropriately specified and programmed computer. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- 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/d/optout.
