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There Is No Such Thing As Miscomputation

Dewhurst, Joe (2020) There Is No Such Thing As Miscomputation. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This paper will argue that there is no such thing as miscomputation, contrary to the received view in philosophy of computation and (possibly) computer science. There are just hardware problems on the one hand and programming errors on the other, neither of which constitute a distinct kind of computational malfunction. One upshot of this argument is that philosophical accounts of physical computation should not be assessed on whether they can accommodate miscomputation in the abstract, but rather on whether they can make sense of the range of different phenomenona that are commonly (and misleadingly) described as miscomputations.

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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Dewhurst, Joejoseph.e.dewhurst@gmail.com
Keywords: computation, miscomputation, mechanistic explanation
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Computation/Information > Classical
Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Computation
General Issues > Technology
Depositing User: Dr. Joe Dewhurst
Date Deposited: 13 Mar 2020 16:25
Last Modified: 13 Mar 2020 16:25
Item ID: 17000
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Computation/Information > Classical
Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Computation
General Issues > Technology
Date: 13 March 2020
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/17000

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