Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!UUNET.UU.NET!mfci!lethin
From: mfci!lethin@UUNET.UU.NET (Richard Lethin)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: *IF*
Message-ID: <8806111732.AA04973@uunet.UU.NET>
Date: 11 Jun 88 17:30:36 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 31


    ) THe brain is undoubetedly a complex computer, but the
    ) mind is a non-tangible thing. Just as this VAX 8600 I am using now
    ) is a complex (supercomputers and the like aside) computer, but the
    ) programs I am using to send this message have absolutely no physical
    ) substance.
    
    The vax is indeed complex (though perhaps less so than the brain), but
    it is a deterministic device.  All of the operations in the vax are
    performed by programs which are represented physically by electrical
    and magnetic states (flux changes on disk drive or voltages in memory
    cells).
    
    In fact, every program which is run on your computer has a physical
    substance which is (in principle) measurable by inserting voltage
    probes at the proper junctions.  In case of trouble, it may be possible
    to arrange for a record of the computer state (possibly with an
    accompanying message "bus error, core dumped").
    
    The same may not be true of the mind: I can not be sure that I can
    measure your brain and determine (eg) what kind if pizza you are
    imagining.
    
    					Dr. T. Andrews, Systems
    					CompuData, Inc.  DeLand
    
    

How does the findamental metastability problem (that all synchronous digital
circuits are subject to, because they live in an asynchronous world) affect
your argument?
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