27
votes
Testing Free Will
is it possible for such agents to determine whether or not they possess free will?
A precondition for answering this question is that the term "free will" is sufficiently well defined. IMHO,...
19
votes
Does a rock falling down a hill perform computation?
I think your example is overly complex for the question you are asking. Consider instead a pachinko-like device with a slot at the top, and 4 slots or holes at the bottom. In between the top and the ...
- 623
14
votes
Does a rock falling down a hill perform computation?
Computation is a deliberate mapping of inputs to outputs according to a finite list of specific instructions. An accidental process cannot be computation. A process with infinite or unknowable ...
- 3,525
12
votes
Accepted
What are computable numbers, and what is their philosophical significance?
All mathematical formalizations of (intuitive) computability are known to be equivalent, in particular they are all equivalent to computability on the universal Turing machine. So technological ...
- 42.5k
11
votes
What are the philosophical consequences of the undecidability of the spectral gap in quantum theory?
What the result means, essentially, is that in certain toy models there can be no algorithm deriving some macroscopic characteristics (spectral gap) from microscopic parameters of the models. The main ...
- 42.5k
11
votes
Is philosophy computation?
If philosophy is mathematics and mathematics is computation, can I conclude that philosophy is computation?
Yes.
So is philosophy merely computation?
No because philosophy isn't mathematics and ...
- 1,808
10
votes
Accepted
Logic and Computation: a philosophical viewpoint on Curry-Howard isomorphism
I think you are right to be impressed with the Curry-Howard correspondence. It is a detailed and extensive rule-by-rule and feature-by-feature isomorphism. This strongly suggests that proof and ...
- 22.9k
8
votes
How can the physical world be an abstract mathematical structure a la Tegmark?
Douglas Hofstadter would call this a strange loop. If one believes mathematics can "fully describe" reality, one can make a pitch to claim that reality is a subset of mathematics. Empirically, these ...
- 17.5k
8
votes
Why doesn't the Chinese room learn Chinese?
Even if the man inside the Chinese room memorised every single translation instance (theoretically every possible combination which is impossible given our limited memory, but it's a thought ...
- 144
7
votes
How does Penrose defeat the computational theory of mind?
This is intended as a complement to Conifold's and Jobermark' answers
Penrose's argument can be broken down to two parts:
Based on Lucas's Gödelian argument against mechanism, he argues that the ...
- 27.1k
7
votes
Does a rock falling down a hill perform computation?
Speaking as a computer scientist, I would say that every such hill is performing a computation. Namely, it computes the state that the rock is in once it reaches the bottom. More precisely, the input ...
- 71
6
votes
Accepted
Do machine learning algorithms have knowledge (if not justified true beliefs)?
The OP proposal is similar in spirit to the one in Farkas's paper Belief May Not Be a Necessary Condition for Knowledge. His primary example is Otto, a guy with severe memory loss, who keeps all ...
- 42.5k
6
votes
Accepted
How does Penrose defeat the computational theory of mind?
The linked IEP article seems to me to be accurately summarized in the OP:"the argument about quantum processes in the brain falls short if we reject the original Gödelian argument... Penrose goes on ...
- 42.5k
6
votes
Does a rock falling down a hill perform computation?
Computation is like meaning or beauty; it is something that we may see in physical objects but it really isn't in the object; it is in the mind of the observer. When you see marks on a screen, those ...
- 7,590
5
votes
Accepted
What do dual-intuitionistic and minimal logic model?
Minimal logic is intuitionistic logic without ex falso quodlibet. One way to understand the difference in interpretation between minimal (ML), intuitionistic (IL) and classical logic (CL) is by ...
- 22.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Do limitations on computability and computational resources have any consequences for epistemology?
So far considerations based on computational resources are consequential only to a small group of philosophers known as radical anti-realists, who extend strict finitism to epistemology. Unlike ...
- 42.5k
5
votes
Consciousness in Simulation theory & AI, why do some believe that it is even possible?
Nobody has ever found any credible evidence that the human brain is anything besides a very complicated computer running strange software. Nobody has ever found any credible evidence that humans are ...
- 813
5
votes
What are the different kinds of computation that exist?
Well, there are different kinds of physical computers as the other answer touched on. But if you're asking about types of computation, then in mathematics and computer science this often refers to ...
- 11.1k
4
votes
How does Penrose defeat the computational theory of mind?
Penrose believes that quantum mechanics is incomplete. So even if it is true that all quantum processes as they are currently known are computational, Penrose would argue there's something missing and ...
- 2,961
4
votes
Why doesn't the Chinese room learn Chinese?
There seem to be several things not understood in asking this question.
Searle gave an intuitive argument. He did not and still does not understand the details so there was a limit to what he could ...
- 255
4
votes
Can computers do things Turing machines can't?
Short answer is no; modern computers cannot do things that Turing machines can't do. What they can do is run very sophisticated, complex Turing machines that simulate things that Turing machines would ...
- 1,497
4
votes
Where is the knowledge that AI's "knowledge representations" represent?
In the context of artificial intelligent agents and AI, it appears that know is just the primitive connecting those agents to their representations of knowledge.
In the 1995 edition of Artificial ...
- 414
4
votes
Human Mind vs Computer
So my question is: what is it that human mind can do which a computer (Universal TM) can not?
INTRODUCTION
Let us presume that you set aside the obvious retort: human brains are embodied and have ...
- 22.9k
4
votes
Consciousness in Simulation theory & AI, why do some believe that it is even possible?
Materialism perspective
One of the arguments for the possibility of simulated minds comes from the assumption that in general, physics can be simulated. If all physics can be simulated, then it must ...
- 1,269
4
votes
Paradoxes regarding Identity of consciousness, illusion of present time
Your thought experiment isolates a key tension in some modern views of consciousness. There is some underlying conflict between two views you are assuming in your question:
A) Consciousness is ...
- 27.1k
4
votes
Testing Free Will
I don't really think it can ever be tested. Personally what convinces me there is no free will is the large amount of evidence that the chemistry of the brain determines our moods, even our ...
- 5,133
4
votes
Testing Free Will
This is actually a question about philosophy of science. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the criteria of falsifiability.
Simply put, for a hypothesis to even be suitable to be proven or disproven ...
- 169
4
votes
Accepted
Are there thoughts that cannot be put into words?
There is no difference between a thought we know how to express in words and one we don't. There is a difference, but it is not between the thoughts.
We use words to refer not to actual things in the ...
- 6,241
4
votes
Why are there no Computer Algebra Systems designed to import known mathematical identities/theorems?
What you're looking for is not a computer algebra system, but a proof assistant, such as Mizar, Coq, or Agda. Proof assistants are designed for the formalization of mathematical proofs in any field of ...
- 11.1k
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