Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ucsd!ucsbcsl!silber@sbphy.ucsb.edu
From: silber@sbphy.ucsb.edu
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: "reference", is the mechanism of its implementation important?
Message-ID: <1447@hub.ucsb.edu>
Date: 10 Apr 89 16:17:16 GMT
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Debates about "analog (continuous) underpinnings" versus "digital (discrete) 
underpinnings cause me to wonder(rhetorically) whether the implementation
of "reference" (including all of its subjacent coffee grounds) is an
"important" topic.  Various kinds of analytical studies (foundations of
mathematics etc.) have progressed without knowing whether the coffee-grounds
are analog or digital.   The nature and competence of "reference" may be
supported by the coffee-grounds, but not fundamentally dependent upon them.
for instance, one may imagine other dustmotes where what we call a
"von-neumann-machine" is the local "natural product"!!!!