To compute is to execute an algorithm. More precisely, to say that a device or organ computes is to say that there exists a modelling relationship of a certain kind between it and a formal specification of an algorithm and supporting architecture. The key issue is to delimit the phrase 'of a certain kind'. I call this the problem of distinguishing between standard and nonstandard models of computation. The successful drawing of this distinction guards Turing's 1936 analysis of computation against a difficulty that has persistently been raised against it, and undercuts various objections that have been made to the computational theory of mind. © 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
CITATION STYLE
Copeland, B. J. (1996). What is computation? Synthese, 108(3), 335–359. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413693
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.