[ExI] Is the brain a digital computer?

[Dave Sill]

On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 9:21 AM, Gordon Swobe <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> You have a simulated heart, a simulated stomach and a simulated brain running on three separate
> computers. You agree the simulated heart doesn't really pump real blood and that the simulated
> stomach doesn't really digest real food, but you want me to believe the simulated brain really
> processes real thoughts, i.e., you want me to believe strong AI=true.

If the simulated brain does arithmetic, is it real arithmetic or
simulated arithmetic?

> Again I ask, how do you explain your inconsistency?
>
> Why do you classify "thoughts" in a different category than you do "blood"
> and "food", if not because you have adopted a dualistic world-view in which
> mental phenomena fall into a different category than do ordinary material
> entities?

Blood is tangible, mental phenomena are not. Of *course* they're in
different categories. You
can hold a pint of blood in your hand, but you can't hold a pint of
thought, a pound of thought,
or a dozen thoughts.

-Dave