Re: Intelligence and Statistics

From: Joe Legris (jalegris_at_xympatico.ca)
Date: 09/29/04 

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 10:24:13 -0400

Glen M. Sizemore wrote:
> JL: Does a calculating machine calculate? Apparently not if you reduce its
> activity to the motions of atoms.
>
>
>
> GS: That is because calculation or computation are not names of classes
> defined physically. Computation is a class defined by function.
>
> JL: If you define "calculation" as action that conforms to laws then
> everything that is lawful is calculation.
>
>
>
> GS: And that is the problem.
>
>
>
> JL: Therefore the moon's orbit is a calculation just as a computer's sum is
> a calculation. In both cases physical constraints ensure lawful outcomes.
> Whether or not it is useful to see them as such depends on the application.
>
>
>
> GS: No, that is wrong. The answer to your opening query is that a
> calculating machine is said to "calculate," and that has become conventional
> usage. The etymology is, however, clearly metaphorical. People "calculate"
> and doing so is behavior. But that does not mean that the computer is
> behaving (in the sense that this term is used in the non-generic sense,
> i.e., as, specifically, that portion of the organism-environment interaction
> characterized by movement of the animal or its parts, in space, through
> time, and having at least one measurable effect upon the environment) simply
> because we have metaphorically extended "calculate" or "compute." What this
> illustrates is how readily the simple-minded may be led astray by the
> cavalier use of metaphor.
>

A calculating machine is said to calculate not because it is a
convenient metaphor for human behaviour but instead because the outcome
is completely determined by the initial conditions and may be repeated
at any time. The metaphor is in saying that people calculate. 

--
Joe Legris

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Intelligence and Statistics
    ... of calculation to an excruciatingly trivial definition of behavior led ... astray, no doubt, by your equally inept comprehension of metaphor. ... >behaving (in the sense that this term is used in the non-generic sense, ...
    (sci.cognitive)
  • Re: Intelligence and Statistics
    ... Does a calculating machine calculate? ... If you define "calculation" as action that conforms to laws then ... behaving (in the sense that this term is used in the non-generic sense, ... cavalier use of metaphor. ...
    (sci.cognitive)