{"id":1598,"date":"2022-01-03T12:29:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T12:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/?p=1598"},"modified":"2022-01-15T13:02:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:02:21","slug":"appearance-and-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/2022\/01\/03\/appearance-and-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Appearance and Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Re: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/12\/13\/magazine\/david-j-chalmers-interview.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Computation is just the manipulation of arbitrary formal <\/em><\/strong>symbols<\/em>, according to rules (algorithms) applied to the symbols\u2019 <\/strong>shapes, not their interpretations<\/strong><\/em> (if any).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The symbol-manipulations have to be done by some sort of physical hardware, but the physical composition of the hardware is irrelevant<\/strong>, as long as it executes the right symbol manipulation rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Although the symbols need not be interpretable as meaning anything \u2013 there can be a Turing Machine that executes a program that is absolutely meaningless, like Hesse\u2019s \u201cGlass Bead Game\u201d \u2013 but computationalists are  mostly interested in interpretable algorithms <\/strong>that do can be given a coherent systematic interpretation by the user.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The Weak Church\/Turing Thesis<\/a> is that<\/strong> computation <\/strong>(symbol manipulation, like a Turing Machine) is what mathematicians do:<\/strong> symbol manipulations that are systematically interpretable as the truths  and proofs of mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. The Strong Church\/Turing Thesis (SCTT) <\/a> is that<\/strong> almost everything in the universe can be simulated<\/em><\/strong> (modelled) computationally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. A computational simulation is<\/strong> the execution of symbol-manipulations by hardware in which the symbols and manipulations are systematically interpretable<\/em> by users as the properties of a real object in the real world<\/strong> (e.g., the simulation of a pendulum or an atom or a neuron or our solar system).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Computation can simulate only \u201calmost\u201d everything in the world<\/strong>, because  — symbols and computations being digital — computer simulations of real-world objects can only be approximate. Computation is merely discrete and finite, hence it cannot encode every possible property of the real-world object. But the approximation can be tightened as closely as we wish, given enough hardware capacity and an accurate enough computational model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. One of the pieces of evidence for the truth of the SCTT is the fact that it is possible to connect the hardware that is doing the simulation<\/strong> of an object to another kind of hardware<\/strong> (not digital but \u201canalog\u201d), namely, Virtual Reality<\/a> <\/strong>(VR) peripherals (e.g., real goggles and gloves<\/strong>) which are worn by real, biological human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Hence the accuracy of a computational simulation<\/strong> of a coconut can be tested in two ways<\/strong>: (1)<\/strong> by<\/strong> systematically interpreting the symbols<\/strong> as the properties of a coconut and testing whether they correctly correspond to and predict the properties of a real coconut or (2) by connecting the computer simulation to a VR<\/strong> simulator in a pair of goggles and gloves, so that a real human being wearing them can manipulate the simulated coconut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. One could<\/strong>, of course, again on the basis of the SCTT, computationally simulate<\/strong> not only the coconut, but the goggles, the gloves, and the human user wearing them<\/strong> — but that would be just computer simulation and not VR<\/strong>!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. And there we have arrived at the fundamental conflation (between computational simulation and VR<\/strong>) that is made by sci-fi enthusiasts (like the makers and viewers of Matrix and the like, and, apparently, David Chalmers). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Those who fall into this conflation have misunderstood the nature of computation <\/strong>(and the SCTT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13.  Nor have they understood the distinction between appearance<\/em> and reality<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 the one that\u2019s missed by those who, instead of just worrying that someone else might be a figment of their imagination, worry that they themselves might be a figment of someone else\u2019s imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Neither a computationally simulated coconut nor a VR coconot is a coconut<\/strong>, let alone a pumpkin in another world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. Computation is just semantically-interpretable symbol-manipulation (Searle\u2019s \u201csquiggles and squiggles\u201d); a symbolic oracle. The symbol manipulation can be done by a computer, and the interpretation can be done in a person\u2019s head <\/strong>— or it can be transmitted <\/strong>(causally linked) to dedicated (non-computational) hardware, such as a desk-calculator or a computer screen or to VR peripherals, allowing users’ brains to perceive them through their senses <\/strong>rather than just through their thoughts and language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. In the context of the Symbol Grounding Problem<\/a> and Searle\u2019s Chinese-Room Argument<\/a> against \u201cStrong AI,\u201d to conflate interpretable symbols with reality is to get lost in a hermeneutic hall of mirrors<\/a>.<\/strong> (That\u2019s the locus of Chalmers\u2019s \u201cReality<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise for the reader: Does Turing<\/a> make the same conflation in implying that everything is<\/strong> a Turing Machine (rather than just that everything can be simulated symbolically by a Turing Machine)?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Re: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/12\/13\/magazine\/david-j-chalmers-interview.html 1. Computation is just the manipulation of arbitrary formal symbols, according to rules (algorithms) applied to the symbols\u2019 shapes, not their interpretations (if any). 2. The symbol-manipulations have to be done by some sort of physical hardware, but the physical composition of the hardware is irrelevant, as long as it executes the right symbol … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Appearance and Reality”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[83,26,84,20,85,19,86],"class_list":["post-1598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hard-problem-consciousness","category-other-minds-problem","tag-appearance","tag-computation","tag-reality","tag-searle","tag-simulation","tag-turing","tag-virtual-reality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1598"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1621,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598\/revisions\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}