``Whether something fits the intuitive concept of "computation" usually ends up being about binding (or grounding). If it's all merely syntactic manipulation of symbols, then it's computation. If it's something more, if it _means_ something, then it's no longer computation.''
One way to divide things up is between computational science and computer science, where the computational scientists use computers as tools to integrate experiment & theory in the natural sciences. Computer science considers the mathematics of computation itself. I find that computational scientists tend to be less interested in topics like knowledge representation and the nature of intelligence than computer scientists. What does it mean to _mean_ something? Just grounding in some real world phenomenology? Or does it require sensors and actuators -- robotics? ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
