X-Message-Number: 4287 From: (Thomas Donaldson) Subject: neural nets and computers Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 19:45:24 -0700 (PDT) It's not obvious to me that neural nets are computers at all. They have no stored program and do not operate on a sequence of bits in accord with that program. (A simulation of a neural net in a computer, which is often done, does not make the neural net a computer any more than simulation of rainfall makes rainfall a computer). And a suitable neural net might also be trained to emulate a computer (perhaps only a simple one) but that yet again does not show that neural nets are computers. Moreover, now especially, designers have been using neural nets as attachments to computers to do those jobs for which neural nets work much better than the standard computer. That too does not show that neural nets are computers, any more than your video screen is a computer. If neural nets are to be considered computers, then I may have a misconception about what is the definition of computer. If so I would be happy to be corrected, not by an ex cathedra statement but by reference to some book on the subject. For those who are eager for an argument, I want to point out finally that the question of whether or not neural nets are computers has at best a tangential relationship with the issue of uploading. I'm not here retreating from my previous opinions on that issue; I'm just asking a question. Long long life, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4287