[e2e] [SPAM] Re: a means to an end

[David P. Reed]

Maybe you have a different definition of "location" than I do, Joe.   I 
have provided many answers, and each one you fail to respond to, instead 
changing your definition of location.

Joe Touch wrote:
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> David P. Reed wrote:
>   
>> Computation (measurement) doesn't necessarily have a single location
>> either.
>>     
>
> You've made that argument repeatedly, as I have made the point that
> having a location doesn't mean having a single point location.
>
>   
>> Your brain happily functions without a tiny homunculus that
>> makes the final decision.   A computer can make a decision without
>> representing the output of the decision in one place. 
>>     
>
> As can a tree fall in the forest without anyone to hear it. However,
> decisions that are hidden from the rest of the world are irrelevant; at
> some point, the brain components need to coordinate a decision (as do
> computer components), and the output is represented in a set of locations.
>
> There's no such thing as computation - or information - that has *no*
> location.
>
>   
>> A flock of geese
>> maneuvers (and hence makes decisions) without there ever being a
>> "command goose". 
>>     
>
> That's not quite correct; the lead goose is the one that others track in
> general (by feeling air currents); follower geese can initiate actions
> from their place backward, and the rest of the group will react when
> visual or auditory cues indicate (e.g., gunshots, trees falling in the
> forest, etc.).
>
>   
>> And a slime mold "decides" to turn from slime to a
>> stalk to a vermiform without a single decision maker.
>>     
>
> Emergent behavior is fine, but it's still coordinated either by
> chemical, mechanical, etc. means.
>
> However, as others have noted, we've strayed far afield of the original
> issue - that information has a location (even if not a *point*), as I
> asserted originally. If you have a counterexample - i.e., information
> that has *no* location, please provide it. Examples for which the
> location is spread out, but for which a location exist, do not disprove
> my assertion.
>
> Joe
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