Re: [FRIAM] Fredkin/Toffoli, Reversibility and Adiabatic Computing.

I am familiar with the concept of a well-formed formula in formal logic. Wikipedia says: In mathematical logic , propositional logic and predicate logic

Re: [FRIAM] I've been thinking

Good summary. Dennett's books are popular because he has done ordinary-language philosophy like his adviser Ryle, as he writes in his chapter about his time in Oxford. His main trick is to do sharp attacks on theories which he has identified as false.His "consciousness explained" book for exampl

Re: [FRIAM] Fredkin/Toffoli, Reversibility and Adiabatic Computing.

I can't even pretend to understand what y'all are talking about. But I do have a couple of questions and a bit of a tangent to apply. Feel free to ignore the tangent. The questions are more important. Question 1: Why does TANSTAAFL only carry traction (whatever that means) in edge/corner cases

Re: [FRIAM] Fredkin/Toffoli, Reversibility and Adiabatic Computing.

glen asked Question 1: Why does TANSTAAFL only carry traction (whatever that means) in edge/corner cases? Question 2: What does "well-formed" mean in this concept of computation? Both good questions... 1) The gist of the phrase was intended to capture that for "normal" or "familiar" comput

Re: [FRIAM] I've been thinking

This post may interest y'all: The Teaching of Writing in the AI Era https://dailynous.com/2025/01/09/teaching-writing-in-the-ai-era/ My response to this question about teaching writing is to ask why one is writing. If writing/reading is for *reasoning*, then the LLMs have taught us (I think) th

Re: [FRIAM] I've been thinking

I've always been drawn to the sharp mind of Daniel Dennett, and the idea of diving into his autobiography feels like meeting an old friend for the first time. As I've been on a bit of a biography kick lately, adding Dennett's personal journey to my reading list just feels right. I love the communa

Re: [FRIAM] I've been thinking

Some years ago Dennett gave a talk on consciousness. He began by saying, "Some people have said that my book should be called 'Conscious Explained Away'. Ha Ha". Where the laughter was insincere and ironic. --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM

Re: [FRIAM] I've been thinking

Natural language seems to be better at facilitating delegation and iteration. Natural language is contradictory and underspecified, so it has a way of facilitating groups of people, er, agents, doing stuff, even if they don’t know or care what they are talking about. It may have even be evoluti