Human brains are (loosely speaking) Universal Turing Machines
You’d have to be speaking very loosely for that comparison to be correct. Unless you’re talking about creating posthumans, we’re tied to all sorts of non-universal cognitive architecture. You go to war with the brain you have, not the brain you want.
I suppose I should grant that—the principle of charity does not permit me to assume anyone thought there was an equivalent to an infinite tape in reality.
I’ve thought a lot about this question. How about this: a small portion of our brain is dedicated to universal computation, and the rest is dedicated to shortcuts/heuristics that allow us to actually function.
You’d have to be speaking very loosely for that comparison to be correct. Unless you’re talking about creating posthumans, we’re tied to all sorts of non-universal cognitive architecture. You go to war with the brain you have, not the brain you want.
But those good ol’ frontal lobes permit universal computation. We can do it. We’re just not very good at it.
If you can emulate arithmetic, the only limit is memory capacity. Ignore that issue, and you’re a UTM.
I suppose I should grant that—the principle of charity does not permit me to assume anyone thought there was an equivalent to an infinite tape in reality.
I’ve thought a lot about this question. How about this: a small portion of our brain is dedicated to universal computation, and the rest is dedicated to shortcuts/heuristics that allow us to actually function.