Hardware/Software

Good Morning,

In college one of my favorite topics in philosophy class was the comparison of humans to computers and what makes us different. I wrote some very interesting papers on the subject and thought i might share a few thoughts:

This morning I want to illustrate illustrate a way of understanding the mind, let us compare our body and mind to a computer. In this simile, the body is the hardware and the mind is the software. The mind is defined as a non-physical phenomena which perceives, thinks, recognizes, experiences and reacts to the environment, not unlike computer software.
Although software needs to be imprinted or registered in something like the hard-drive before it can do anything, in itself, a program represents a lot of thinking by the software manufacturer. Without software (mind), the hardware (body) is just a 'dead thing'. The hardware (body) is of course important in what the computer can do; how fast it is, which programs can be run, and how the computer can interact with the world. However good the hardware is, it can ultimately only perform what the program 'knows'. The hardware can get damaged, or even 'die', and the software can be moved onto another set of hardware (not unlike rebirth!). The software needs to use the 'senses' of the hardware, like the keyboard, the mouse, a video camera, a modem etc. to receive 'input'; just like the mind needs the senses the receive the 'input' of the outside world.

This leads to an important observation: it is easy to recognize that a computer is not 'objective' about the world; depending on what kind of video camera, microphone or modem we connect it to, the input will be different. Similarly, our bodily senses cannot really be objective: people's ears are different, the eyes are different etc., so how can someone ever claim to be an 'objective observer'? Above and beyond that lies the software; the more advanced this is, the more 'intelligent' it will be able to read the world and determine what is the best thing to do. Similarly, the more advanced our mind is, the more intelligent and wise we will be, providing we are not hampered by serious physical problems. As the software actually determines what the hardware does, so is the mind the master of the body - within the physical limitations of the body. 

There are limits to the development of the hardware; for example, the amount of electrical circuits on chips is getting larger and larger, but there are physical limits which the developers encounter. With the software, the limit appears to be much less clear; the first types of computers behaved with the intelligence of an on/off switch, but already they can beat a grand-master at chess and nobody can say where it will end. Similarly,there is no real limit to the development of our mind, and in fact omniscience is possible. At that stage, all our normal values and concepts dissolve as limited and non-objective.

Initially, we need to understand how the programs of our mind work and how they can be improved, and then do the reprogramming. Now some aspects of the mind may appear very dry and boring, but remember, so are the computer manuals no one ever reads!

Peace and Love, Jim