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A computer is something that computes. Doesn't really matter how it does it.
by UK-AL 10y ago
A computer is something that computes. Doesn't really matter how it does it.
- chongli 10y agoAnd what does it mean for something to compute?
- UK-AL 10y agoBeing able to follow an algorithm, a set of steps(parallel or in series) to reach a result. The brain has input, goes through various connections, and you end up with a result.
- criddell 10y agoThe steps don't even have to be discrete. An analog computer can give a continuously varying response to varying inputs with no sequential operations.
- chongli 10y agoSo is fire a computer? It goes through a series of steps to reach a result.
- UK-AL 10y agoIs fire able to follow an algorithm? I mean some creative person could probably make a computer out of using fire.
- chongli 10y agoWell, what is an algorithm? Anyway, before we stray too far from the point I was hoping to make, I'll claim that when most people use the word "compute" they mean a particular task performed at the behest of a human being. This sort of definition is problematic if we're ever to attempt to build an artificial brain or to encounter intelligent alien life radically different from our own. It all falls back to the problem of agency and the philosophical concept of the self.
- criddell 10y agoI think that's a way too restrictive definition of computation. I'd argue genetic code (messenger RNA) is a program and inputting genes and outputting proteins is a form of computation.