3 ms·

> computer, an element of intent or interpretation is needed; otherwise it's just a bunch of stuff doing what stuff does naturall I mean this violates nothing

• denton-scratch 4y ago
  > and you are trying to say that things like it is not computing On the contrary. The AI-powered camera obviously has intent behind it. It's a computer. A random collection of stuff, on the other hand, could happen to be arranged in such a way that it computes something; but if it wasn't designed that way, and if nobody is trying to give it inputs and interpret the outputs, then it's not a computer, it's just a bag of stuff. For example, consider the orbiting bodies of the solar system. I expect their motions can be used to compute various functions, although I don't know what functions. But they weren't arranged deliberately to perform computations, and AFAIAA nobody's intepreting them as a computer. Ergo, they are just a "bag of stuff", doing what stuff does naturally. Same for the iron bar.