Re:4-bit calculator made from cardboard and marbles
by anigbrowl on Monday November 21, 2016 @09:36PM
(#13011180)
No. The cardboard and marbles are the substrate on which the program runs; one might as well argue for the self-awareness of the individual carbon atoms in your brain. The program can't run without some sort of substrate, but the substrate is inert without the appropriate program; it is the system as a whole which is self-aware.
Godel, escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter is a colorful, whimsical, yet rigorous treatment of this argument in book format.
Godel, escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter is a colorful, whimsical, yet rigorous treatment of this argument in book format.