On Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 6:12 PM, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 22, 2016 Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> Would you say other physical universes are possible having completely >> different physical laws and without atoms and molecules as we know them in >> our universe? >> > > I would say it would have to have *SOMETHING* physical as we know it or > it wouldn't be another physical universe as we know it. > > So according to you, does every physical universe has to have hadrons, electrons and photons, and 3 spatial dimensions? > > >> Would you agree that one possible physical world is an infinite 2 >> dimensional plane, each with cells which either does or does not contain a >> particle? >> > > Cells and particles are physical. > > > Would you say it is a particle even when the particles have only 1 bit of information associated with them "exists in this cell" or "does not exist in this cell? > > >> Would you accept that in such physical universes, which operate >> according to Conway's game of life, that Turing machines might exist? >> > > Only if physical cells and physical particles that operate according to > C > onway's game of life > exist. > Let's assume they do for the following question: What in your mind delineates the physical from the mathematical? > > > >> Can you imagine even simpler "physical universes" where nonetheless >> computation occurs? >> > > No, I can't image any change simpler than > > on to off or off to on, and without change there is no computation, no > intelligent behavior and no consciousness. > > I am glad you agree that matter "of our universe" is not strictly or logically indispensable to computation or consciousness, as that view would be reminiscent of Searle's arguments for "biological naturalism" and counter to computationalism. I think this is a good step. Jason -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
