Any reasonable definition of computer includes things that can do arithmetic, and since brains can do that, brains are computers. The distinction between analo

Any reasonable definition of computer includes things that can do arithmetic, and since brains can do that, brains are computers. The distinction between analog and digital computers doesn’t seem to be so important to me. Any computation that an analog computer can do, can also be done with digital computers and vice versa. Digital computers can process continuous-time signals as precise as analog computers, and analog computers can do logic. Which kind of computer you use depends on convenience with respect to the resources and computational problem in hand. The “brains don’t download software” part also isn’t convincing. Brains are capable of manipulating symbols, but the rule set needs to be learned in the case of arithmetic, or selected, in the case of natural language according to inputs. Also, software doesn’t have to be like “1. Do this, 2. Do that, 3. End”, like the article implies. The brain can be running on a game loop, planning future actions according to some stochastic utility function. Also, I find it useful when thinking about brains to separate the functions that are done unconsciously from those that are not. To me, unconscious functions of the brain seem more like using specialised hardware. Of course, those parts are almost certainly doing computation to full their functions, but it is “not abstract symbol manipulation according to some learnable rules” that people associate with consciousness.