On 29 Aug 2012, at 20:09, Craig Weinberg wrote:
On Wednesday, August 29, 2012 1:22:38 PM UTC-4, William R. Buckley
wrote:
Cells are indeed controlled by software (as represented in wetware
form – i.e. DNA).
It isn't really clear exactly what controls what in a living cell. I
can say that cars are controlled by traffic signals, clocks, and
calendars.
To whatever we ascribe control, we only open up another level of
unexplained control beneath it. What makes DNA readable to a
ribosome? What makes anything readable to anything?
Encoding and decoding, or application and abstraction, or addition and
multiplication, ...
Sense is irreducible.
From the first person perspective. Yes. For machine's too.
No software can control anything, even itself, unless something has
the power to make sense of it as software and the power to execute
that sense within itself as causally efficacious motive.
This seems to me like justifying the persistence of the physical laws
by invoking God. It is too quick gap filling for me, and does not
explain anything, as relying on fuzzy vague use of words. I might find
sense there, but in the context of criticizing mechanism, I find that
suspicious, to be frank.
Bruno
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
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