Shenker, Orly and Hemmo, Meir
(2021)
The Multiple-Computations Theorem and the physics of singling out a computation.
[Preprint]
Abstract
The problem of multiple-computations discovered by Hilary Putnam presents a deep difficulty for functionalism (of all sorts, computational and causal). We describe in outline why Putnam’s result, and likewise the more restricted result we call the Multiple-Computations Theorem, are in fact theorems of statistical mechanics. We show why the mere interaction of a computing system with its environment cannot single out a computation as the preferred one amongst the many computations implemented by the system. We explain why non-reductive approaches to solving the multiple-computations problem, and in particular why computational externalism, are dualistic in the sense that they imply that non-physical facts in the environment of a computing system single out the computation. We discuss certain attempts to dissolve Putnam’s unrestricted result by appealing to systems with certain kinds of input and output states, as a special case of computational externalism, and show why this approach is not workable without collapsing to behaviourism. We conclude with some remarks about the non-physical nature of mainstream approaches to both statistical mechanics and the quantum theory of measurement with respect to the singling out of partitions and observables.
| Item Type: |
Preprint
|
| Creators: |
|
| Additional Information: |
Draft, under review in The Monist |
| Keywords: |
Computational theoery of mind, indeterminacy of computation, physical computation, Computational neurscience, multiple computations, functionalism, computational functionalism, dualism, externalism, reductive physicalism, identity physicalism, non-reductive physicalism |
| Subjects: |
Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Computation
General Issues > Philosophers of Science
General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics |
| Depositing User: |
Orly Shenker
|
| Date Deposited: |
23 Aug 2021 02:23 |
| Last Modified: |
23 Aug 2021 02:23 |
| Item ID: |
19479 |
| Subjects: |
Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Computation
General Issues > Philosophers of Science
General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics |
| Date: |
July 2021 |
| URI: |
https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19479 |
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