Minds and Machines 4 (4):391-402 (1994)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
To clarify the notion of computation and its role in cognitive science, we need an account of implementation, the nexus between abstract computations and physical systems. I provide such an account, based on the idea that a physical system implements a computation if the causal structure of the system mirrors the formal structure of the computation. The account is developed for the class of combinatorial-state automata, but is sufficiently general to cover all other discrete computational formalisms. The implementation relation is non-vacuous, so that criticisms by Searle and others fail. This account of computation can be extended to justify the foundational role of computation in artificial intelligence and cognitive science.
|
Keywords | Artificial Intelligence Computation Science Test Turing, A |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1007/BF00974166 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Psychosemantics: The Problem of Meaning in the Philosophy of Mind.Jerry A. Fodor - 1987 - MIT Press.
Computation and Cognition: Toward a Foundation for Cognitive Science.Zenon W. Pylyshyn - 1984 - Cambridge: MIT Press.
View all 16 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Does a Rock Implement Every Finite-State Automaton?David J. Chalmers - 1996 - Synthese 108 (3):309-33.
Structuralism as a Response to Skepticism.David J. Chalmers - 2018 - Journal of Philosophy 115 (12):625-660.
Realization and the Metaphysics of Mind.Thomas W. Polger - 2007 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 85 (2):233 – 259.
View all 50 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Concrete Digital Computation: What Does It Take for a Physical System to Compute? [REVIEW]Nir Fresco - 2011 - Journal of Logic, Language and Information 20 (4):513-537.
In Computation, Parallel is Nothing, Physical Everything.Selmer Bringsjord - 2001 - Minds and Machines 11 (1):95-99.
Computation, Among Other Things, is Beneath Us.Selmer Bringsjord - 1994 - Minds and Machines 4 (4):469-88.
How Molecules Matter to Mental Computation.Paul Thagard - 2002 - Philosophy of Science 69 (3):497-518.
How Would You Know If You Synthesized a Thinking Thing?Michael Kary & Martin Mahner - 2002 - Minds and Machines 12 (1):61-86.
A Computational Foundation for the Study of Cognition.David Chalmers - 2011 - Journal of Cognitive Science 12 (4):323-357.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
339 ( #29,975 of 2,499,055 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
17 ( #48,605 of 2,499,055 )
2009-01-28
Total views
339 ( #29,975 of 2,499,055 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
17 ( #48,605 of 2,499,055 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads