Von Neumann Minds: A Toy Model of Meaning in a Natural World

Abstract

Physical law and the teleonomy of living beings are difficult to reconcile: a stone rolls downhill because of the force of gravity, not because it wants to reach the bottom. Mental content exhibits the curious property of intentionality—of being directed at, concerned with, or simply about entities external to itself. Such ‘aboutness’ is arguably a prerequisite to goal-directed behavior; yet, following Brentano (Psychologie vom Empirischen Standpunkte. Duncker & Humbblot, Berlin, 1874, [1]), it is often alleged that no physical system exhibits this kind of other-directedness.