34
votes
Accepted
Do computers use logic?
Allow me to be precise about this. Logic (in the formal sense) is a system of manipulating symbols according to rules. Computers can manipulate symbols according to rules — that is more or less ...
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7
votes
Do computers use logic?
You might like this answer: Why is a measured true value “TRUE”?
Physicist Richard Feynman makes the case in this lecture that computers are essentially limited to sorting: Hardware Software & ...
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5
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between properties and sets?
I suppose you are looking for reasons not to identify properties to sets.
(1) A set is a particular ( an abstract particular) , but properies are often considered as universals .
(2) A property is ...
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5
votes
Do computers use logic?
Computers use logic, but differently than people and other Great Apes.
Logicians make a distinction between formal logic and informal logic. Computers are fully capable of doing formal logic, but they ...
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5
votes
Do computers use logic?
From Wiktionary:
Noun
logic (countable and uncountable, plural logics)
(uncountable) A method of human thought that involves thinking in a linear, step-by-step manner about how a problem can be ...
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4
votes
Intelligence as a prerequisite for consciousness/sentience?
I don't think you understand that objections to LaMDA. Intelligence isn't the problem. The problem is awareness. They are different things.
We generally think of dogs as conscious beings. A dog ...
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4
votes
Philosophy and the question 'When is a robot considered alive and thinking?'
The definition of life is one of the most famously difficult definitions in all of philosophy. There are many definitions. For example, science has a descriptive definition for life:
Homeostasis: ...
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4
votes
Philosophy and the question 'When is a robot considered alive and thinking?'
There is a distinction between being alive and being sentient and both categories have their own criteria. Modern philosophers, particularly in the analytic and Continental traditions of philosophy ...
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4
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Can space be both Euclidean and non-Euclidean, "at the same time"?
As a great statistician once said: “All models are wrong, but some are useful.”
Euclidean Geometry is a way of approximating reality. It is useful under some circumstances and unhelpful in others. Any ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Intention and Means-End Reasoning in Epistemology
Short answer
You helpfully clarified in the comments that your question is about using the rhetorical strategy of cherry-picking. Since it involves the conscious use of an informal fallacy and leads ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Can there be intentionality without consciousness?
The inverse square law is about gravity, the triangle inequality is about triangles, "the grass is green" is about grass. They sure are. But what makes them being about? A brick wall has bricks in it, ...
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3
votes
Can there be intentionality without consciousness?
You don't have to go so far down as the laws of physics. Most classes of life exhibit intentionality without consciousness (amoebas, viruses, plants, etc...).
Daniel Dennett talks about it in many ...
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3
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Decisions, intentions and actions
The decisions that one talks in the OP are conscious decisions. On the subconscious level one either made a decision to continue eating when the half of the brownie had been eaten OR (more likely) the ...
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3
votes
Do computers use logic?
Computers do not use logic.
They do however, use logic GATES.
Logic gates perform very small pieces of logic calculations like AND, OR and NOT, but this is not enough to say they use logic.
Computers ...
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3
votes
Do computers use logic?
Difficult. I mean the question is basically where the "mind" or "soul" of the "entity" of a computer is located or whether it has or is any of that to begin with.
Like if ...
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3
votes
Do computers use logic?
I think it is appropriate to quote George Boole here:
No general method for the solution of questions in the theory of probabilities can be established which does not explicitly recognise, not only ...
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2
votes
Is belief an intentional act?
Both "belief" and "intentional act" are ambiguous terms, so the answer may depend on specific meanings, even for the same author. Ordinary factual beliefs, as in Plato's "knowledge is justified true ...
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2
votes
Philosophy and the question 'When is a robot considered alive and thinking?'
I believe it could be said to be alive, even if it isn't conscious, i.e. it is a zombie. John Searle discusses part of this in the Chinese Room argument. It is mentioned somewhere in Searle: ...
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2
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Philosophy and the question 'When is a robot considered alive and thinking?'
First, there is no absolute definition of life. Any definition that you might find, might probably be applied to a rock, so a rock is a living entity.
For example, taking the concept from another ...
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2
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Accepted
What does Searle mean by "intentionality" and "causal processes"?
Short Answer
John Searle accepts the human brain is a computer of sorts, but rejects that it is like current digital computers. He believes there's something inherently different between the ...
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2
votes
How does one perform phenomenological reduction?
The following account of Husserlian phenomenological reduction might make clearer what is involved in the reduction. Some of Husserl's characterisations of the reduction come close to examples; and in ...
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2
votes
Intelligence as a prerequisite for consciousness/sentience?
It's becoming clear that with all the brain and consciousness theories out there, the proof will be in the pudding. By this I mean, can any particular theory be used to create a human adult level ...
2
votes
Decisions, intentions and actions
I suggest you think about your brownie in the following way:-
Your intention was (to eat the brownie (half now and half later))
Eating a brownie is a version of the general routine of having a snack. ...
- 2,973
2
votes
Accepted
Decisions, intentions and actions
I would look to an analogy with the emerging idea of the need for intelligible intelligence in AI. We have many mental processes going on outside of our awareness, and the picture of consciousness ...
- 22.9k
2
votes
Do computers use logic?
Computers intensely use formal logic, which is built into them. Formal logic amounts to elementary arithmetic (AKA boolean) with the binary digits 0, 1, and the operators not, and, or.
Combining these ...
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Do computers use logic?
Most answers are confused, and the problem is simple.
Logic is the FORMAL set of rules that govern reason.
Reason is the potential to think.
I know we refer to computers as using logic, logic gates ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Is it even possible to desire something we believe is impossible?
The desire for perfection is one example of an unattainable desire that many people use as a motivation to improve themselves. So it's not just possible, its an important strategy for self-improvement....
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1
vote
Intelligence as a prerequisite for consciousness/sentience?
Caveat
The OP's original question was extensively edited by Mark Andrews after this response was written.
Short Answer
From a metaphysical standpoint, you are trying to determine what is the ...
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1
vote
What does Searle mean by "intentionality" and "causal processes"?
He is using “causal” in a conventional way, and “intentional” to refer to intentionality (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intentionality). He’s claiming that our primary interest in mental activity ...
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What does Searle mean by "intentionality" and "causal processes"?
I think that with causal properties Searle is referring to the brain's ability to cause physical actions by the muscles. Producing intentional states means configuring the motor cortex neurons in such ...
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