--- Bruno Marchal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Then you should avoid saying "Scientists believe > that the universe is > one giant computer." > Not only many scientist disagree, but actually this > is in contradiction > with the comp. hyp. (the computationalist hypothesis > which asserts that > "I" am simulable by a computer). I know it is often > confuse but I have > propose an argument according to which if I am a > computer then whatever > the "physical universe can be" it cannot be a > computer (perhaps even it > cannot be, at all). > (But of course the comp hyp could be false.) >
O.K, perhaps I should clarify that and state that I think 'binary numbers' (0's and 1's) are the ultimate 'stuff' of reality. Pure binary maths by itself is not quite 'computation' is it? I think 'computation' requires that some minimal *meaning* be assigned to the 0's and 1's. So I could agree that the universe is not a computer. It's just pure binary math. So what do you think of the idea that the ultimate fabric of reality is pure binary math? --- THE BRAIN is wider than the sky, For, put them side by side, The one the other will include With ease, and you beside. -Emily Dickinson 'The brain is wider than the sky' http://www.bartleby.com/113/1126.html Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com
