Does a Computer Think If No One Is Around to See It?

Explore a thought-provoking conference talk that challenges conventional notions of computer cognition and consciousness. Delve into the speaker's argument that computers cannot have unambiguous thoughts, even about simple concepts like numbers. Examine how our understanding of computer operations is based on human conventions, often anchored in user interfaces, rather than objective reality. Discover the intriguing concept of multiple valid computations occurring simultaneously within a single computer operation. Learn about a program that computes a result for one input, then decodes it into results for all other possible inputs, illustrating the potential for contradictory "thoughts" within a computer system. Compare this computational ambiguity to the human mind, which the speaker argues lacks such inherent contradictions. Reflect on the implications of these ideas for the possibility of simulating human consciousness through computation and the fundamental nature of thought itself.