A theory of computational implementation

• Autores: Michael Rescorla
• Localización: Synthese, ISSN-e 1573-0964, Vol. 191, Nº. 5, 2014, págs. 1277-1307
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • I articulate and defend a new theory of what it is for a physical system to implement an abstract computational model. According to my descriptivist theory, a physical system implements a computational model just in case the model accurately describes the system. Specifically, the system must reliably transit between computational states in accord with mechanical instructions encoded by the model. I contrast my theory with an influential approach to computational implementation espoused by Chalmers, Putnam, and others. I deploy my theory to illuminate the relation between computation and representation. I also rebut arguments, propounded by Putnam and Searle, that computational implementation is trivial.