On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 9:33 PM 'Brent Meeker' via Everything List < [email protected]> wrote:
> > > On 8/26/2019 6:13 PM, Jason Resch wrote: > > What does "distinct" mean in that? It's a distinction you make because >>>>> you can think of a brain and processes of the brain as separate. Just >>>>> like you can think of an automobile plant as distinct from the steps >>>>> required to make a car. But that doesn't mean that a car can be made >>>>> without any physical process. >>>>> >>>> >>>> It is distinct in the sense that bits are different from electrical >>>> voltages or scribbles on paper. >>>> >>>> >>>> Yes and insurance is different from cash. So what? A bit is just a >>>> physical thing that you choose to regard purely in terms of its >>>> computational relations...we calll the "abstractions" for a reason. >>>> >>> >>> Under your own definition of abstraction above, there is a distinction >>> between a mind and a brain. There's not an identity relation between the >>> two, as one discards unnecessary details. >>> >>> >>> "Unnecessary" to what? >>> >> >> The specification of the mind. >> >> >> But you don't know that. You're merely assuming that a mind can be >> specified without reference to a physical world in which it exists. >> > > If functionalism is true, and if it's description is not infinite, then it > can be. > > >> > But one of the specifications of the mind may be that it's physically > instantiated. Otherwise it couldn't perceive or act. > You agreed that the computation would act the same regardless of the source of the information. So I don't know why you think it would not act. Also, you agreed "physical" is just a relation between an observer and a structure which might be mathematical. So what makes any Turing machine any more or less capable than any other for processing an observer? 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUh-fjxtAKPy6LsZ4B2wriO7%2B2PY9%2BAfgF8F%2BAqreJ8xvQ%40mail.gmail.com.
