[ExI] Addition Functionalism (was Mindless Thought Experiments)

[Lee Corbin]

Stathis writes

> Let me define another philosophical position: Addition Functionalism.
> This is the theory that addition is multiply realisable, on widely
> varying substrates. Thus, addition can be implemented on your fingers,
> in your head, on an abacus, and so on. It is also being implemented by
> accident in any arbitrary physical system with enough complexity, even
> though no-one is around to recognise it. But this is absurd; so either
> Addition Functionalism is false, or some rule must be added to stop
> the accidental implementations. Right?

Okay, I'll bite   :-)    I would say "right", and that Addition Functionalism
is correct. My proviso: the key factor is how explicit it is. If two planetoids
gently collide, their masses are explicitly added, but if Van Maanen's Star
and S Doradus each emit a certain but different number of photons in a
given second, then the addition is highly implicit (or hidden). 

At a different, higher level, an intelligent entity (from a crow to an advanced
AI) may map these environmental additions, but mostly only explicit ones, 
into mental sums or feelings of numerical quantity.

Lee