Re:Computational Thinking Benefits Society (2014)
by unabst on Thursday October 13, 2016 @05:27PM
(#12704191)
But I think we're getting there. To say the brain doesn't work like a formal system and to say how the brain works cannot be formalized are two distinct statements. Natural language may not be a formal language, but the process of building natural language systems is that of formalizing how it works. And our progress is evidence.
Re:Computational Thinking Benefits Society (2014)
by the_af on Friday October 14, 2016 @10:31AM
(#12708295)
I don't know if we're getting there. There is no evident natural progression to this conclusion. Maybe the brain just doesn't work in ways that can be formalized, and maybe it does. I don't think the evidence so far points unambiguously towards a model of the brain as a formal computing device. It may very well turn out to be a dead-end.
What is true, however, is that it's not redundant to speak of "computational thinking", because it's not been proven a synonym for thinking in general.
I don't think this is obviously true. At least superficially it isn't: the human brain doesn't work like a formal system, as far as we know. Most definitions of computational thinking I've read do not equate it to thinking.