[ExI] Meaningless Symbols

Gordon Swobe gts_2000 at yahoo.com
Tue Jan 12 13:41:20 UTC 2010


--- On Tue, 1/12/10, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:

>> Human operators ascribe meanings to the symbols their
>> computers manipulate.
> 
> How would that be the case? Ascribing meaning to a symbol
> means to associate something to something else. As, in, e.g., ax^2 +
> bx + c = y when I ascribe to x the meaning of "5". What would be so
> special in what humans would be doing in this respect?

I consider my pocket calculator as an extension of my own mind. I use it as a tool. If I encounter a screw that I can't remove with my fingers, I grab my pocket screwdriver. If I encounter a math problem that I can't solve with my brain, I grab my pocket calculator.

I don't believe either of these pocket tools of mine have understanding of anything whatsoever, but I might find it fun to pretend they do. 

-gts






      



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list