COGNITION IS NOT COMPUTATION:
THE ARGUMENT FROM IRREVERSIBILITY

Selmer Bringsjord
Dept. of Philosophy, Psychology & Cognitive Science
Department of Computer Science
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy NY 12180
selmer@rpi.edu http://www.rpi.edu/ brings - Michael Zenzen
Dept. of Philosophy, Psychology & Cognitive Science
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180
zenzem@rpi.edu

Abstract:

The dominant scientific and philosophical view of the mind -- according to which, put starkly, cognition is computation -- is refuted herein, via specification and defense of the following new argument: Computation is reversible; cognition isn't; ergo, cognition isn't computation. After presenting a sustained dialectic arising from this defense, we conclude with a brief preview of the view we would put in place of the cognition-is-computation doctrine.

• Introduction
• The Computational Conception of Mind
• Rudiments of Computational Reversibility
• The Argument From Irreversibility
  • The Starting Point: Proposition 1
  • Clarifying `Consciousness'
  • The Argument From Irreversibility
• Dialectic
  • Objection 1
  • Objection 2 (The Objection From Physics)
  • Objection 3
  • Objection 4
  • Objection 5
  • Objection 6
  • Objection 7
  • Objection 8
  • Objection 9
• Uncomputable Cognition
• References
• About this document ...