TY - BOOK

T1 - Thought, Sign and Machine

T2 - The Computer Reconsidered

AU - Finnemann, Niels Ole

N1 - English Translation of Doctoral Dissertation, 'Tanke, sprog og Maskine - en Teoretisk analyse af computerens symbolske egenskaber' Akademisk Forlag, Københvan 1994.

PY - 1999

Y1 - 1999

N2 - 1.1 Framing the questionThroughout what is now the more than 50-year history of the computer agreat number of theories have been advanced regarding the contribution thismachine would make to changes both in the structure of society and in waysof thinking.Like other theories regarding the future, these should also be taken with apinch of salt. The history of the development of computer technologycontains many predictions which have failed to come true and manyapplications which have not been foreseen.While we must reserve judgement as to the question of the impact on thestructure of society and human thought, there is no reason to wait for historywhen it comes to the question: what are the properties which could give thecomputer such far-reaching importance?The present book is intended as an answer to this question.The fact that this is a theoretical analysis is due to the nature of the subject.No other possibilities are available because such a description of the propertiesof the computer must be valid for any kind of application. An additional demandis that the description should be capable of providing an account of theproperties which permit and limit these possible applications, just as it mustmake it possible to characterize a computer as distinct from a) other machineswhether clocks, steam engines, thermostats, or mechanical and automaticcalculating machines, b) other symbolic media whether printed, mechanical, orelectronic and c) other symbolic languages whether ordinary languages,spoken or written, or formal languages.This triple limitation, however, (with regard to other machines, symbolic mediaand symbolic languages) raises a theoretical question as it implies ameeting between concepts of mechanical-deterministic systems, which stemfrom mathematical physics, and concepts of symbolic systems which stem fromthe description of symbolic activities common to the humanities. Therelationship between science and the humanities has traditionally been seenfrom a dualistic perspective, as a relationship between two clearly separatesubject areas, each studied on its own set of premises and using its ownmethods. In the present case, however, this perspective cannot be maintainedsince there is both a common subject area and a new - and specific - kind of interaction between physical and symbolic processes.

AB - 1.1 Framing the questionThroughout what is now the more than 50-year history of the computer agreat number of theories have been advanced regarding the contribution thismachine would make to changes both in the structure of society and in waysof thinking.Like other theories regarding the future, these should also be taken with apinch of salt. The history of the development of computer technologycontains many predictions which have failed to come true and manyapplications which have not been foreseen.While we must reserve judgement as to the question of the impact on thestructure of society and human thought, there is no reason to wait for historywhen it comes to the question: what are the properties which could give thecomputer such far-reaching importance?The present book is intended as an answer to this question.The fact that this is a theoretical analysis is due to the nature of the subject.No other possibilities are available because such a description of the propertiesof the computer must be valid for any kind of application. An additional demandis that the description should be capable of providing an account of theproperties which permit and limit these possible applications, just as it mustmake it possible to characterize a computer as distinct from a) other machineswhether clocks, steam engines, thermostats, or mechanical and automaticcalculating machines, b) other symbolic media whether printed, mechanical, orelectronic and c) other symbolic languages whether ordinary languages,spoken or written, or formal languages.This triple limitation, however, (with regard to other machines, symbolic mediaand symbolic languages) raises a theoretical question as it implies ameeting between concepts of mechanical-deterministic systems, which stemfrom mathematical physics, and concepts of symbolic systems which stem fromthe description of symbolic activities common to the humanities. Therelationship between science and the humanities has traditionally been seenfrom a dualistic perspective, as a relationship between two clearly separatesubject areas, each studied on its own set of premises and using its ownmethods. In the present case, however, this perspective cannot be maintainedsince there is both a common subject area and a new - and specific - kind of interaction between physical and symbolic processes.

UR - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330683498_Thought_Sign_and_Machine_-_The_Computer_reconsidered_English_Translation_of_Niels_Ole_Finnemann_Tanke_Sprog_og_Maskine

M3 - Book

BT - Thought, Sign and Machine

PB - [Niels Ole Finnemann]

CY - Aarhus

ER -