Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Why your Mind is not a Computer, or:
Notes from the underground
Michael Maitland
Complexity / MathSys Annual Retreat
Wilderhope Manor
May 13, 2015
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
The Mind in history
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
The Mind in history
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
The Mind in history
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Modern Mind
So, how do we think about the mind now?
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Modern Mind
So, how do we think about the mind now?
“. . . the modern unconscious is a place of super-fast data
processing, useful survival mechanisms and rules of thumb about
the world that have been honed by millions of years of evolution.
[. . . ] It is the unconscious, for instance, that stitches together data
on colour, shape, movement. . . ”
—The Economist, review of Leonard Mlodinow Subliminal: How Your
Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behaviour 2012
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Modern Mind in Philosophy
“nervous systems are information processing systems”
— Patricia Churchland, Neurophilosophy 1986, p36
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Modern Mind in Philosophy
“nervous systems are information processing systems”
— Patricia Churchland, Neurophilosophy 1986, p36
“the key concept [of cognitive science] is computation [. . . ]
Cognitive science tries to elucidate the workings of the mind by
treating them as computations. [. . . ] mental processes are the
computations of the brain”
— Philip Johnson-Laird, Computer and the Mind, 1988, p9 & p391
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Modern Mind in Philosophy
“nervous systems are information processing systems”
— Patricia Churchland, Neurophilosophy 1986, p36
“the key concept [of cognitive science] is computation [. . . ]
Cognitive science tries to elucidate the workings of the mind by
treating them as computations. [. . . ] mental processes are the
computations of the brain”
— Philip Johnson-Laird, Computer and the Mind, 1988, p9 & p391
“all the phenomena of human consciousness are explicable as ‘just’
the activities of a virtual machine realised in the astronomically
adjustable connections of the human brain”
— Daniel Dennett, Consciousness explained 1991, p410
Conception of the mind
Computation
So the mind is a computer?
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Questions
With regards to the computationalist theories, two questions might
be asked:
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Questions
With regards to the computationalist theories, two questions might
be asked:
a) Is the mind essentially a calculator?
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Questions
With regards to the computationalist theories, two questions might
be asked:
a) Is the mind essentially a calculator?
b) Do computers actually calculate?
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
a) Is the mind essentially a calculator?
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
a) Is the mind essentially a calculator?
2+3=5
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
b) Do Computers actually calculate?
What is meant by ‘computer’ ?
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
b) Do Computers actually calculate?
What is meant by ‘computer’ ?
loosely a system that receives
input, processes data and produces
output
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
b) Do Computers actually calculate?
What is meant by ‘computer’ ?
loosely a system that receives
input, processes data and produces
output
‘input’, ‘data’ and ‘output’ are not
intrinsic properties; require
subjective definition
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
b) Do Computers actually calculate?
What is meant by ‘computer’ ?
loosely a system that receives
input, processes data and produces
output
‘input’, ‘data’ and ‘output’ are not
intrinsic properties; require
subjective definition
Therefore calling the mind
intrinsically ‘computational’ seems
flawed
Conception of the mind
Information
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Information
Churchlands both, Toffoli, Fodor, Chalmers, Wheeler, Fredkin,
Blakemore, Tipler, Johnson-Laird, to some extent Searle and
perhaps most famously Dawkins and Dennett all use and abuse the
term
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Information
There are two main senses in which it is used:
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Information
There are two main senses in which it is used:
Knowledge communicated concerning some particular fact, subject,
or event; that of which one is apprised or told
—Oxford English Dictionary 2015 entry
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Information
There are two main senses in which it is used:
Knowledge communicated concerning some particular fact, subject,
or event; that of which one is apprised or told
—Oxford English Dictionary 2015 entry
I (X ) = −
X
P(xi ) ln P(xi )
i
—Shannon Entropy definition
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Information
There are two main senses in which it is used:
Knowledge communicated concerning some particular fact, subject,
or event; that of which one is apprised or told
—Oxford English Dictionary 2015 entry
I (X ) = −
X
P(xi ) ln P(xi )
i
—Shannon Entropy definition
Attempts to reconcile the two usages are problematic
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Alice and Bob
Alice asks Bob “Do you love me?”, to which Bob gives answer X
(modeled as a random variable)
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Alice and Bob
If the answer is in binary (Yes/No), Alice obtains 1 ‘bit’ of
information. I (X ) = −2( 12 ln2 21 ) = 1
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Alice and Bob
If the answer is a single roman character, Alice obtains between 4
1
1
and 5 ‘bits’ of information. I (X ) = −26( 26
ln2 26
) = 4.7
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Alice and Bob
Only two of those outcomes can be construed meaningfully (‘y’ or
‘n’), the rest are meaningless
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Information
Changing Alice’s priors actually makes things worse
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Information
Changing Alice’s priors actually makes things worse
Presumably Alice is expecting something anodyne like ‘y’ or ‘n0
more than ‘f’, i.e. P(X = y) ≥ P(X = f).
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Information
Changing Alice’s priors actually makes things worse
Presumably Alice is expecting something anodyne like ‘y’ or ‘n0
more than ‘f’, i.e. P(X = y) ≥ P(X = f).
So − ln2 P(X = y) ≤ − ln2 P(X = f)...
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Information
Changing Alice’s priors actually makes things worse
Presumably Alice is expecting something anodyne like ‘y’ or ‘n0
more than ‘f’, i.e. P(X = y) ≥ P(X = f).
So − ln2 P(X = y) ≤ − ln2 P(X = f)...
Alice gains more information from the meaningless ‘f’ than the
more meaningful ‘y’...
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Intentionality
Information as we know it always refers to something other than
itself.
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Intentionality
Information as we know it always refers to something other than
itself.
information about apples is about
<<apples>>
Thoughts about apples are about
<<apples>>, and not purely about
<<thoughts about apples>>.
This intentionality of information is
what separates it from information
in the engineering sense.
Conclusion
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
“the semantic aspects of information are irrelevant to the
engineering aspects”
— Claude Shannon, The Mathematical Theory of Communication, 1949
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Unqualified vacillation between the two senses allows
neuro-philosophers to imagine they have crossed the huge gulf of
the mind/body divide in recasting perception and consciousness as
the processing and possession of a physicalised ‘information’.
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Unqualified vacillation between the two senses allows
neuro-philosophers to imagine they have crossed the huge gulf of
the mind/body divide in recasting perception and consciousness as
the processing and possession of a physicalised ‘information’.
“possession of information can be understood as the possession of
some internal physical order”
— Paul Churchland, Matter and Consciousness, 2nd edition, 1988
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Unqualified vacillation between the two senses allows
neuro-philosophers to imagine they have crossed the huge gulf of
the mind/body divide in recasting perception and consciousness as
the processing and possession of a physicalised ‘information’.
“possession of information can be understood as the possession of
some internal physical order”
— Paul Churchland, Matter and Consciousness, 2nd edition, 1988
If we take this claim
seriously, then these are
the most well-informed
objects on Earth!
→
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Summary
Point 1
Machines cannot perform computations by themselves; if the brain
is a machine it cannot compute/calculate without a pre-existing
external consciousness to transform its activity into ‘computational
activity’.
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Summary
Point 1
Machines cannot perform computations by themselves; if the brain
is a machine it cannot compute/calculate without a pre-existing
external consciousness to transform its activity into ‘computational
activity’.
Point 2
The brain cannot be regarded as an ‘information processing device’
without a mind/consciousness to whom the ‘information’ is
‘informative’. To claim otherwise is to beg the question.
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
Summary
Point 1
Machines cannot perform computations by themselves; if the brain
is a machine it cannot compute/calculate without a pre-existing
external consciousness to transform its activity into ‘computational
activity’.
Point 2
The brain cannot be regarded as an ‘information processing device’
without a mind/consciousness to whom the ‘information’ is
‘informative’. To claim otherwise is to beg the question.
Point 3
The scientific usage of ‘information’ is clearly inadequate to explain
even basic aspects of the mind/consciousness such as
‘intentionality’, ‘indexicality’ and unity of consciousness.
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
References and Further Reading
Colin Cherry
On Human Communication 2nd
edition
1966 MIT Press
David Chalmers
The Conscious Mind
1996 Oxford University Press
Philip Johnson-Laird
The Computer and the Mind
1988 Fontana
John Searle
Intentionality
1983 Cambridge University Press
Patricia Churchland
Neurophilosophy
1986 MIT Press
Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver
Mathematical Theory of
Communication
1949 University of Illinois Press
Paul Churchland
Matter and Consciousness, 2nd
edition
1988 MIT Press
Raymond Tallis
Brains and Minds
2000 Journal of Royal College of
Physicians
Daniel Dennett
Consciousness Explained
1991 Little, Brown
Tzvetan Todorov
Hope and Memory
2004 Atlantic Books
Conception of the mind
Computation
Information
Conclusion
“A picture held us captive. And we could not get outside it, for it
lay in our language and language seemed to repeat it to us
inexorably.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 1953, p115
Thanks for listening