alt Hacker NewsBrains do not "make calculations". Biological neurons do not "make calculations"
What they do is well described by a bunch of math. You've got the direction of the arrow backwards. Map, territory, etc.
Replies
optimalsolver • today at 2:06 AM
The coming years are gonna be rough for the human exceptionalism crowd.
pixl97 • yesterday at 5:38 PM
So what does a chemical based computer do?
If what they do is "well described by a bunch of math", they're making calculations.
Unless the substrate is essential and irreducible to get the output (whic is not if what they do is "well described by a bunch of math"), then the material or process (neurons or water pipes or billiard balls or 0s and 1s in a cpu) doesn't matter.
>You've got the direction of the arrow backwards. Map, territory, etc.
The whole point is that at the level we're interested in regarding "what is the process that creates thought/consciousness", the territory is not important: the mechanism is, not the material of the mechanism.