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Full Idea
Computational states are not discovered within the physics, they are assigned to the physics.
Gist of Idea
Computation isn't a natural phenomenon, it is a way of seeing phenomena
Source
John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 9.V)
Book Ref
Searle,John R.: 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' [MIT 1999], p.210
A Reaction
The key idea in Searle's later thinking, with which I have some sympathy. There always seems to be a sneaky dualism buried deep in Searle's physicalism. Computation is very high-level physics.
| 3979 | The Turing Machine is the best idea yet about how the mind works [Fodor on Turing] |
| 3193 | Turing showed that logical rules can be specified computationally and mechanically [Turing, by Rey] |
| 3498 | Computation isn't a natural phenomenon, it is a way of seeing phenomena [Searle] |
| 2577 | Simple machine-functionalism says mind just is a Turing machine [Block] |
| 2580 | A Turing machine, given a state and input, specifies an output and the next state [Block] |