[ExI] Do digital computers feel?

[John Clark]

On Wed, Dec 21, 2016  Stuart LaForge <avant at sollegro.com> wrote:


> ​> ​
> Rafal and he hypothesized that if consciousness was the result of analog
> physics operating upon a real number continuum instead of discrete "chunks"
> of space-time, then neural activity, and therefore consciousness, might NOT
> be computable.
> ​
> And IMO, this is a valid concern, since on the continuum between any two
> floating point decimal numbers of any finite precision, there exists an
> uncountably infinite number of possible values most of which are not
> computable.
>

​Ah Analog computers, this topic has come up before on the list, I wrote
this in 1995:


Welcome to the exciting world of analog computing. Thanks to the new Heath
Kit
​ ​
Home Study Course you can build your very own analog computer in the
privacy of your own home. Make big bucks! Amaze your friends! Be a hit at
parties! This is a true analog computer, no wimpy pseudo analog stuff here,
this baby can handle infinity.

Before we begin construction there are a few helpful hints I'd like to pass
along. Always keep your workplace neat and clean. Make sure your
​analog ​
computer is cold, as it will not operate at any finite temperature above
absolute zero. Use only analog substances and processes, never use digital
things like matter, energy, spin,
​
or electrical charge when you build your analog computer.

Now that we
​​
got those minor points out of the way we can start to manufacture your
​very own ​
analog computer.

Step One: Repeal the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
Step Two:
​Take​
 any infinitely accurate measuring stick you have handy and ..
​..​
​==​


​Back then the great
Marvin Minsky
​ ​was on the list and he too had something to to say about analog
computers and the people who love them :


*"people who happily assume that analog computers bring some mysterious
sort of infinite precision that cannot be simulated by a mere 64-bit
computer working with double precision floating point. I used to
use analog computers, [...]  If you were real careful, even at Room
Temperature, you could sometimes get close to 10-bit performance for brief
periods."*

​> ​
> One observes that human mathematicians like Cantor and Newton were able
> comprehend and manipulate those infinities in such a way as to make them
> tractable to analysis, a feat that I haven't seen a computer yet capable of.
>

There are an infinite number,
​
in fact
​
an uncountable
​
y
​
infinite number, of maps that can be drawn on a flat square,  but only 4
colors are needed to keep all the countries on the map separate. This was
proven by a computer
​way back ​
in 1977,
​but​
 to this day nobody can prove it without a computer.

​John K Clark​
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