tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post7695443874307764005..comments2024-03-28T19:56:42.305-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: A multiple-realizability problem for computational theories of mindAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-79132385338567988442018-04-04T23:52:47.005-05:002018-04-04T23:52:47.005-05:00It's absolute cost that I am worried about. Pr...It's absolute cost that I am worried about. Pretty much every physical system can be mapped to pretty much every finite computational system if one isn't worried about the cost of the mapping. So to avoid hyper-panpsychism, one needs to limit the absolute cost of the mapping.<br /><br />But the cost of the mapping has to include the cost of the reduction all the way down to the fundamental base, since the choice of any non-fundamental base is ad hoc.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-54196595547801571502018-04-04T23:13:38.998-05:002018-04-04T23:13:38.998-05:00I see many problems with this argument, but let...I see many problems with this argument, but let's pick one. <br /><br />You ask us to imagine "world w* which is just like ours at the macroscopic level, and even at the atomic level" and then "in our world facts about electrons may be fundamental, in w* these facts are far from fundamental, being reducible to facts about much more fundamental things and reducible in a complex way." <br /><br />For your argument this has to imply a complexity cost for the additional levels, so the initially simplest mapping between mind and realization is no longer simplest. But cost relative to what?<br /><br />- If we are talking about cost relative to other possible reductions within world w*, then either <br />(a) the reduction still explains electrons, in which we have found a simpler reduction and can just substitute that and keep everything from the electrons up, or <br />(b) the reduction works through a new physical theory which doesn't involve electrons, in which case the worlds no longer appear equivalent. <br /><br />- If we are talking about cost relative to the explanation in our world (w) then we can ignore the complexity of the reduction of electrons in w*, and compare just the complexity of the reduction down to the electrons. Since the electrons behave the same in both cases any lower level structure can't make a difference. jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11258416181053973027noreply@blogger.com