Questions tagged [computation]
Computational theory is the study of calculations. Important questions are: what can be computed? How quickly can it be computed? What requirements or abilities must a computer have?
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Is there a weaker/general version of Incompleteness Theorem which holds for every formal axiomatic system?
Is there a general version of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem which holds for any formal axiomatic system (and not just those capable of modelling basic arithmetic)?
If no, is it absurd to ask why such ...
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Do constructivists (or intuitionists) reject real numbers, except the computable ones?
SEP has a bunch of pages on what (various flavors) of intuitionists or constructivists seem to accept as a model theory or as a set theory (they actually seem to diverge on the latter, in the sense of ...
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Is it there a “completely expressive” formal system / logic language?
I wonder whether it exists a formal system such that all (or a considerable number of) the others can be considered as a subsets or fragments of it.
I would say that, for instance, First-Order logic ...
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7answers
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Is the distinction between software and hardware real?
In computer science education, there exists a dichotomy between what we call "hardware" and what we call "software". Software can exist as patterns on hardware and also as a purely ...
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205 views
What are the different kinds of computation that exist?
What are the different kinds of computation that exist? From what I can see, there are two kinds:
Computation based on non-electric and analog devices: abacuses, human
brain, calculator
Computation ...
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14answers
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Testing Free Will
Could we ever come up with an experiment that is able to explain once and for all if free will exists or not? Another way to put it: given a universe and agents acting within it, is it possible for ...
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Robinson Arithmetic and Church-Turing Thesis
What is the connection (if any) between proving the undecidability of Robinson Arithmetic and the Church-Turing Thesis? If there is any connection to CTT, is it necessary?
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Can we define the notion of an “omnipotent God” in terms of computational power?
A classic omnipotence paradox asks, "can an omnipotent God create a stone so heavy that He cannot lift it?" The problem here is that we take omnipotence to mean "capable of anything ...
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Philosophical meaning of the Curry Howard Correspondence
At a technical level, I understand the Curry-Howard correspondence in various settings, and its usefulness as a technical tool. What I'm looking for is a fairly rigorous discussion of genuinely ...
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4answers
364 views
Paradoxes regarding Identity of consciousness, illusion of present time
Thought experiment:
Lets say we have two (or more) exactly same brains, in the same state, having exactly the same neural activity (hardly possible in reality with biological brains, but eventually ...
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67 views
Computing Premises from Consequence
We write 'If A, then B' to mean that if A is true, then B must be true because B is a logical consequence of A i.e. it is impossible for A to be true but B to be false.
Let us consider one such ...
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762 views
Consciousness in Simulation theory & AI, why do some believe that it is even possible?
There are many famous philosophers that assume that "consciousness can be create by calculations in a computer". For example: Nick Bostrom with the simulation theory [I greatly respect and ...
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Where does computations occur, in Mind or in Matter?
Short and silly question, but it opens-up to a separation of idealism and materialism on the basis of information.
If computations (in the scenario of a materialistic-computational perspective of the ...
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151 views
Why is Turing claiming that a complete and computable axiomatization of arithmetic would imply the decidability of first-order logic?
So I'm reading the famous paper of Turing "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem". At the beginning of his proof of the undecidability of first-order logic (FOL), he ...
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1answer
150 views
Symbolic Processes & Thinking
My question is if there is some concrete symbolic logic at the foundation of human reasoning -something very rudimentary, but still formal? Question may be seen in context of the article given below.
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How do Probably Approximately Correct algorithms work, and is the PAC model an eludication of Piercean abduction
I recently read a fascinating review (in issue no. 136 of Philosophy Now) of Probably Approximately Correct written by Harvard Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Leslie Valiant. ...
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240 views
Human Mind vs Computer
We start from axioms, use rules of logic, and derive theorems. These theorems establish what is the case in relation to the context. In all disciplines employing mathematics, we reason by saying '...
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In what contexts or disciplines does “One may assume X” imply “One may ignore the possibility of any statement contrary to X being true”?
In computer programming, it has become fashionable for compilers (processors of computer language) to apply the following form of reasoning:
A language standard would permit a compiler to assume that ...
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1answer
242 views
Computers, Artificial Intelligence, and Epistemology
Some classification schemes don't list logic as a separate branch of philosophy. I assume they regard logic as a component of epistemology.
Of course, others regard logic as a separate branch. The ...
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87 views
Where can I find arguments for animal rights?
I'm asking this question on behalf of https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/users/47/curi
I'm a philosopher (and programmer) attempting to research and diagram arguments relating to animal rights. I'm ...
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163 views
Is there a form of set theory involving imperatives and interrogatives?
I finally read the article Is there a Logic of Imperatives? Conifold showed me and it elicited the question, for me, whether imperative programming is a form of imperative logic at all? The essay took ...
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2answers
144 views
Is there a system where it is impossible to tell the fundamental type of probability?
Premise: What does it mean to take Planck's constant to 0? When someone takes Planck's constant to 0 then they do not effective just substitute Planck's constant with 0. The actual procedure is to ...
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What are some views on the ability to transfer consciousness into a machine?
What are some views on the ability to transfer consciousness into a machine? So when discussing this question, there are two set of questions that arises. What is consciousness, is it something that ...
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Are Max Tegmark's Mathematical Universe Hypothesis and Seth Lloyd's Cosmological Model compatible?
I have been interested in Seth Lloyd's cosmological model (which proposes that the universe is a some kind of quantum computer or at least similar to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Who first studied “logical (ir)reversibility”?
Who first studied "logical (ir)reversibility" philosophically?
By "logical (ir)reversibility" I mean questions like:Why is it easier to
multiply large numbers than to factorize them?
understand a ...
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Inconsistency in Tegmark's Mathematical Universe Hypothesis?
Physicist Max Tegmark is widely known for proposing that there is a multiverse where mathematical structures would exist as real and actual universes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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119 views
Does Gregory Chaitin propose a computable or an uncomputable ontology?
Gregory Chaitin is a mathematician who thinks that the universe is itself a computer, or similar...
He has written papers closely related to the field of hypercomputation (For example, he invented the ...
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94 views
Is it there any specific and well known continous/analog alternative to Wheeler's discrete “It from Bit”?
Physicist John A Wheeler (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Wheeler) suggested the concept of "law without law" and "it from bit" which suggested that the universe did not have any laws ...
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Is it there any model of the universe (considered by physicists) which would be the product of a simulation?
There are various philosophical theories that propose that the universe is the product of a simulation. But I was looking for theories that propose this and are also considered by physicists (not only ...
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1answer
162 views
What is the relationship between computation and Gödel's incompleteness theorems? [closed]
In what way do Godel's incompleteness theorems impact computers/hypercomputers? Do they somehow prevent them from being capable of computing everything (of computing literally all uncomputable/...
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Is it possible to mathematically define a hypercomputer-universe where things that could not be computed by it could exist? [duplicate]
There are a few physicists that propose that the universe is a hypercomputer. One example is Roger Penrose, who, basing in his quantum interpretation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Can hypercomputation compute the impossible?
There are things which are illogical/logically impossible (like saying that 2+2=4 and 2+2=5. Without changing anything in the axioms of mathematics or logic, this would be a contradiction and would be ...
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What does philosophy say about the normativity of simulated thought within the analytical tradition?
Given the coherence theory of truth, new propositions must observe previous theory and logic (i.e. every thinking step must be consistent with rules of logic); many analytic philosophies believe it is ...
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A universal game [closed]
In this question by "metagame" I mean a game which functions to create the rules of a sub-game.
Is there a universal metagame that would allow to create any game (including itself). Such game would ...
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2answers
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Similar to Douglas Adam's HGTTG, Is there any philosophy that views human society as a computation?
In Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, Earth is a supercomputer that is computing the the Ultimate question, whose answer is 42.
I was wondering is Douglas Adams was inspired by any ...
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270 views
Are uncomputable numbers/things a problem for Wheeler's “it from bit”?
I have some questions related to Wheeler's ideas of "It from bit" and "Law without law"
In summary, these both theories postulate that there was an initial universe with no laws from which laws of ...
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Can Schmidhuber's hypothesis reproduce all types of universes? And Wheeler's it from bit? Or Weizsäcker's ur-theory?
I found a paper that talked about paraconsistent logic systems (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraconsistent_logic) and trivialist systems (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivialism) and the ...
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249 views
Book Recommendation for Computational Theory of Mind
These days I'm really into studying the Computational Theory of Mind (CTM)
and I have read papers and documents online.
However, I have difficulty capturing the overall (received) theories of CTM at ...
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Is 't Hooft cellular automaton compatible with Floridi's Informational (Structural) Realism?
Informational (Structural) Realism (by Luciano Floridi) relates to digital physics ideas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_physics)
As Floridi himself says in one of his articles (http://philsci-...
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Free will: is reality a record, a game or unpredictable?
If a world is a record (a film), then this scenario does not have conditional rules, i.e., if it can be implemented as a computer program, it will not have "if ... then ..." commands.
If a world is a ...
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2answers
269 views
Where is the knowledge that AI's “knowledge representations” represent?
I find this really confusing. AI often says its computer systems "know" things, but when AI explains how to program a computer to be intelligent, it talks only about "knowledge representation". E.g., ...
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1answer
139 views
Where to find the “tightened up” definitions of computing mentioned by Searle?
I think it is probably possible to block the result of universal realizability by tightening up our definition of computation. Certainly we ought to respect the fact that programmers and engineers ...
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Is philosophy computation?
If philosophy is mathematics and mathematics is computation, can I conclude that philosophy is computation? Can we axiomatize philosophy? Can a computer think for us, given the current rise of AI?
I'...
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300 views
The mathematical language of the brain
This question is similar, but not identical, to one I posted to the mathematics SE some time ago. I was originally unsure of where to post it. I believe this question is sufficiently different to ...
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1answer
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Can computers do things Turing machines can't?
Today's electronic digital computers are often referred to as universal Turing machines. That is, the concept of the UTM is used to understand today's stored-program electronic digital computers. But ...
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1answer
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What are the philosophical points that make bear out in the ZFC vs ZF debate?
Or rather why do some people vehemently reject axiom of choice?
I am interested from this from the perspective of the philosophy of computation. Intuitively, from the little I know, it seems people ...
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Why doesn't the Chinese room learn Chinese?
I just can't see how John Searle's Chinese room makes sense. The room passes the Turing test. People outside the room think there's a human inside who understands Chinese. But, Searle explains, the ...
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194 views
Is ESP, in particular telepathy, not computable?
In Alan Turing’s “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” he writes in 6(9) The Argument from Extrasensory Perception that
I assume that the reader is familiar with the idea of extrasensory ...
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187 views
Does adding structure make the Chinese room semantic?
The Chinese room reacts just to syntax, or shape of symbols (is purely syntactic). But brains are full of structure. In the room, Chinese symbols sit scattered in "piles" on the floor or are moved ...
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Is computationalism really a theory, or is it more like a doctrine or creed?
When studying AI, computationalism was always referred to as a theory, a theory of mind, the theory that the mind is an executing computation. But is it really a theory? How could it be disproved or ...
