The power of science is in its approach to nature through simplification followed by systematic interpretation. Reality, those things which are themselves, are summarised as symbols. We should beware of mistaking the symbols for the thing in itself.
Symbols make sense because we relate them to things which are familiar to us. Paradox occurs where our symbols, eg mathematics, relate to things with which we are not familiar, eg sub-atomic particles.
One place where this can be a problem is in the debates about artificial intelligence. Think of a single binary switch in a computer, it can be either on or off. It is linked to millions of other switches and together they can perform great things. However, it is still millions of switches and cannot therefore be conscious. No matter how many switches nor how complex their operations, they are still switches and cannot be conscious individually or collectively.
So, computers cannot conceivably think like we do. It is our ability to interpret what computers do which gives them their utility. How could a computer perceive the difference between red and green, fall in love or feel pain? We interpret the symbols, not the computer.
Martin in Does It Matter? goes into this in more detail in his first chapter. He writes on page 41:
As Babbage, inventor of the first computer, foresaw, - If the rules of calculation can be incorporated into a machine, then there is no need for the intervention of conscious thinking. In short, the whole point about computers is that they are not conscious.
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