•  44
    Harnad accepts the picture of computation as formalism, so that any implementation of a program - thats any implementation - is as good as any other; in fact, in considering claims about the properties of computations, the nature of the implementing system - the interpreter - is invisible. Let me refer to this idea as 'Computationalism'. Almost all the criticism, claimed refutation by Searle's argument, and sharp contrasting of this idea with others, rests on the absoluteness of this separation …Read more
  •  23
    But still I think some account has to be given of the application of CM to tides and cannon balls etc. etc. It seems to me that Einstein's and Bohr's analysis was essentially correct: we make the connection, and thus apply the mathematical statements of CM to macroscopic features of the world about us, by constructing, within the mathematical framework,. macroscopic conglomerates of the elementary particles and fields that should have the general appearance of tides and billiard, looked at from …Read more
  •  24
    Henry re. your recent reply to Aaron. OK, current physics does not allow us to retreat into a comfortable assumption of Newtonian regularity. However, given the following range of options, I know which I find the 'spookiest'
  •  27
    Within the field of aesthetics, there are several approaches to answering what affects how and whether an individual engages with a particular art or aesthetic object. Two theories that attempt to come to a solution on this issue are theories of attunement and attachment which respectively argue that one’s engagement is primarily affected by one’s attunement or attachment, through a system of values, beliefs, and associations, to an object. While these theories are successful in responding to a …Read more