
<ftp://ftp.eeng.dcu.ie/pub/autonomy/bmcm9302/README.TXT>


               Computing Machinery and Mentality

                  Barry McMullin,
                  School of Electronic Engineering,
                  Dublin City University,
                  Dublin 9,
                  IRELAND.

                  <McMullinB@DCU.IE>

                      December 1993

               Technical Report: bmcm9302


Invited paper presented at the workshop _Artificial Life: a Bridge
towards a New Artificial Intelligence_, San Sebastian, December 10th and
11th, 1993. This is an abridged version of discussions first presented
in Chapter 2 of my Ph.D. Thesis (McMullin, 1992).

ABSTRACT:
---------

I reconsider the status of _computationalism_ (or, in a weak sense,
_functionalism_): the claim that being a realisation of some (as yet
unspecified) class of abstract _machine_ is both necessary and
sufficient for having genuine, full-blooded, _mentality_.  This doctrine
is now quite widely (though by no means universally) seen as
discredited.  My position is that, though it is undoubtedly an
unsatisfactory (perhaps even repugnant) thesis, the arguments against it
are still rather weak. In particular, I critically reassess John
Searle's infamous _Chinese Room Argument_, and also some relevant
aspects of Karl Popper's theory of the _Open Universe_. I conclude that
the status of computationalism must still be regarded as _undecided_;
and that it may still provide a satisfactory framework for research.

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.bib entry for *this* TR:
-------------------------

@TECHREPORT{
  McMullin:ComputingMachinery,
  AUTHOR      = "Barry McMullin",
  TITLE       = "Computing Machinery and Mentality",
  INSTITUTION = "School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University",
  YEAR        = "1993",
  MONTH       = "December",
  NUMBER      = "{\tt bmcm9302}",
  TYPE        = "Technical Report",
  ADDRESS     = "Dublin 9, Ireland",
  URL         = "ftp://ftp.eeng.dcu.ie/pub/autonomy/bmcm9302/"
  }

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