From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!wupost!psuvax1!psuvm!jpe1 Thu Apr 16 11:33:32 EDT 1992
Article 4996 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!wupost!psuvax1!psuvm!jpe1
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Wednesday, 8 Apr 1992 16:56:57 EDT
>From: <JPE1@psuvm.psu.edu>
Message-ID: <92099.165657JPE1@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: syntax and semantics
References: <1992Apr03.164328.8107@spss.com>
 <1992Apr4.061244.767@mp.cs.niu.edu> <92098.170625JPE1@psuvm.psu.edu>
 <1992Apr8.010858.5398@news.media.mit.edu>
Lines: 31

In article <1992Apr8.010858.5398@news.media.mit.edu>, minsky@media.mit.edu
(Marvin Minsky) says:
>
>In article <92098.170625JPE1@psuvm.psu.edu> <JPE1@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>>
>>    Are you suggesting that ...  computations are _not_ syntactic?  In what
>>manner would they not be?  From what I understand, whatever the computer does
>>_is_ "formal" and "precise", although we may interpret its output as
>>_meaning_ something imprecise.
>
>Nonsense. What the computer does is what it does, just like a brain.

   What does this mean?  That a computer does whatever it does (which tells
us nothing) or that a computer does whatever a brain does (which is a central
issue here, not something that can be simply assumed or stated without
support)?

>It is _you_ who may interpret what it is doing as formal or precise.

   Does this mean that you reject the isomorphism that many philosophers
find between computers and formal systems?  And if so, on what grounds?
(Directing me to an article would be an acceptable response here, although
some stated reasons would be easier to discuss on the net.)



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