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,...
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 ...
- 41.7k
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 ...
- 41.7k
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 ...
- 1,738
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 ...
- 18.6k
9
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 ...
- 17.2k
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 ...
- 26.6k
7
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 ...
- 134
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 ...
- 41.7k
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 ...
- 41.7k
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 ...
- 41.7k
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 ...
- 594
4
votes
What did John Searle mean by these self-contradictory statements?
In reverse order:
"What on Earth does or did it mean that “the brain is a digital computer”. Literally it's just nonsense": Obviously the brain doesn't use binary code or run assembler, it uses ...
- 26.6k
4
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 ...
- 18.6k
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 ...
- 2,466
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 ...
- 1,487
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 ...
- 404
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 ...
- 14.9k
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 ...
- 1,210
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 ...
- 24.9k
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 ...
- 3,900
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 ...
- 141
4
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 ...
- 7,911
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 ...
- 7,911
3
votes
Does running a program about quantum mechanics on a quantum computer count as an experiment or a simulation?
The concept of simulation and experiment are not mutually exclusive: When a biologist performs a biochemistry or molecular biology experiment in a lab setting, they are also simulating a process that ...
- 26.6k
3
votes
What are computable numbers, and what is their philosophical significance?
The computable numbers are not technology dependent. A universal computer can simulate any finite physical system to any desired degree of accuracy. And it can simulate not just the input and the ...
- 7,197
3
votes
Accepted
Quantum Mechanics has formally undecidable problems. What is the philosophical significance of this?
The problem described in that paper is about calculating the limiting behavior of a lattice as its size goes to infinity. Because the uncomputability only comes in when considering the limit, it is ...
- 146
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