The indeterminacy of computation.

Do the dynamics of a physical system determine what function the system computes? Except in special cases, the answer is no: it is often indeterminate what function a given physical system computes. Accordingly, care should be taken when the question 'What does a particular neuronal system do?' is a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 199; no. 5/6; pp. 12753 - 12776
Autores principales: Fresco, Nir, Copeland, B. Jack, Wolf, Marty J.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Dec2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=154480392&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 154480392
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00397857
        4LI
      jtl: Synthese
      issn: 00397857
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Dec2021
      vid: 199
      iid: 5/6
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
    artinfo:
      ui:
        154480392
        10.1007/s11229-021-03352-9
      ppf: 12753
      ppct: 23
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 810KB
      tig:
        atl: The indeterminacy of computation.
      aug:
        au:
          Fresco, Nir
          Copeland, B. Jack
          Wolf, Marty J.
        affil:
          Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel
          Philosophy Department, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, 8140, Christchurch, New Zealand
          Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Bemidji State University, 1500 Birchmont Drive, # 27, 56601, Bemidji, MN, USA
      su:
        Computer systems
        Biological systems
        Cognitive ability
        Physical mobility
        System dynamics
      sug:
        subj:
          Computer systems
          Biological systems
          Cognitive ability
          Physical mobility
          System dynamics
      keyword:
        Boolean gates
        Cognition
        Computation
        Computational explanation
        Dual functions
        Grounding function
        Indeterminacy
        Multiple specifiabilty
        Underdetermination
      ab: Do the dynamics of a physical system determine what function the system computes? Except in special cases, the answer is no: it is often indeterminate what function a given physical system computes. Accordingly, care should be taken when the question 'What does a particular neuronal system do?' is answered by hypothesising that the system computes a particular function. The phenomenon of the indeterminacy of computation has important implications for the development of computational explanations of biological systems. Additionally, the phenomenon lends some support to the idea that a single neuronal structure may perform multiple cognitive functions, each subserved by a different computation. We provide an overarching conceptual framework in order to further the philosophical debate on the nature of computational indeterminacy and computational explanation.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2021. All Rights Reserved.
      item: Synthese
      holder: Springer Nature
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2021
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N