gls@odyssey.ATT.COM (g.l.sicherman) (03/31/89)
In article <3564@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>, lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu writes: > From article <16186@cup.portal.com>, by dan-hankins@cup.portal.com: > > " ... A computer is _not_ a device that does symbol crunching. Only minds > " can do this, as symbols are wholly in the domain of the mental. ... > > When I compile a program, assembly language with symbols is produced, > and the symbols are interpreted (dare I say 'understood'?) by an > assembler. Has my computer gone mental? Am I misusing the > term 'symbol'? Or are you. To a computer, the letters and numbers aren't symbols of anything--they're reality. More to the point, meaningless data symbolize nothing to the computer's *users.* It's important to remember that the user is part of the loop. If a computer has no users, is it a computer? -:- A Principal Investigator said to his assistant: "I notice that you are not working." The assistant retorted, "The computer is not working today." PASK, overhearing them, commented: "Not the computer, not the assistant. The man-machine interface is not working." --A. I. Koans -- Col. G. L. Sicherman gls@odyssey.att.COM