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Article 5759 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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iida
>From: zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Grounding: Real vs. Virtual (formerly "on meaning")
Keywords: simulation
Message-ID: <zlsiida.262@fs1.mcc.ac.uk>
Date: 19 May 92 15:54:52 GMT
References: <1992May19.003821.9450@Princeton.EDU> <1992May19.014453.26865@sophia.smith.edu> <1992May19.035936.7143@Princeton.EDU> <1992May19.131655.28763@sophia.smith.edu>
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In article <1992May19.131655.28763@sophia.smith.edu> orourke@sophia.smith.edu (Joseph O'Rourke) writes:

>In article <1992May19.035936.7143@Princeton.EDU> 
>       harnad@shine.Princeton.EDU (Stevan Harnad) writes:

> >... But if you are asking whether a calculator
> >adds or a chess-program plays chess in the same sense I do, i.e., by
> >thinking, the answer is no, they do not, and that has nothing to do
> >with linguistic usage.

>Yes, it is clear that computers do not add or play chess "in the same
>sense" we do. 

I'm almost certainly completely wrong here, BUT...
I think calculators add (etc) in essentially the same way as us.  They 
receive an external signal, do a lot of internal symbol manipulation, and 
output a signal.  So what if the exact signals and symbols involved aren't
the same ones we use?  The process is essentially the same.  The universe
as we perceive it is only a set of symbols for what's actually out there.
The real/virtual dichotomy depends mainly on the fact that humans find a 
high correlation between their symbol sets for the universe, and so call it 
real, and deny reality to symbol sets which vary from the one we believe to
reperesent the universe.

+----Great Qoutes of our Time----------------------------------------+
|  Bug?  That's not a bug, that's a feature.                         |
+--------------------------------------------------T John Wendel-----+                                                                     
|  Dave Budd, MCC, Oxford Rd, Manchester, England  (44)061-275-6033  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+


