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Is the human mind a Turing machine?

David King

pp. 379-389

Abstract

In this paper I discuss the topics of mechanism and algorithmicity. I emphasise that a characterisation of algorithmicity such as the Turing machine is iterative; and I argue that if the human mind can solve problems that no Turing machine can, the mind must depend on some non-iterative principle — in fact, Cantor's second principle of generation, a principle of the actual infinite rather than the potential infinite of Turing machines. But as there has been theorisation that all physical systems can be represented by Turing machines, I investigate claims that seem to contradict this: specifically, claims that there are noncomputable phenomena. One conclusion I reach is that if it is believed that the human mind is more than a Turing machine, a belief in a kind of Cartesian dualist gulf between the mental and the physical is concomitant.

Publication details

Published in:

(1996) Synthese 108 (3).

Pages: 379-389

DOI: 10.1007/BF00413695

Full citation:

King David (1996) „Is the human mind a Turing machine?“. Synthese 108 (3), 379–389.