[From Bill Powers (960314.0100 MST)]
Martin Taylor 960312 0950 --
Yes, provided you substitute "representation of an algorithm" for
"algorithm."
No, that's a substitution I don't wish to make. An algorithm, broadly
speaking, is a mathematical form. Nature's behavior can be idealized or
approximated by mathematical forms, but it isn't represented by them.
As I, and I think Dennett, use the term, an "algorithmic process"
it means a process that delivers consistent results if it starts
from the same state and is given the same data over and over.
I believe that this view of natural processes has been superseded since
the chaotic nature of the world was recognized, and here I refer only to
the weak form of chaos, the Butterfly Effect. There doesn't seem to be
any process of the kind to which you (and Dennett) refer.
Mathematics is a human invention. When used to form representations
(perceptions) of the world, it can be applied only to other human
perceptions, which in themselves are idealizations, approximations, or
simplified versions of processes at the sensory interface.
Another way to put this is that there are, in nature, no honest dice.
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Peter Cariani (960312.1300 EST) --
Thank you, thank you. I was beginning to feel like a voice crying in the
wilderness.
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Best to all,
Bill P.