I’ve watched mine for several hours, and it hasn’t.
No, you haven’t. (p=0.9)
Have you observed a calculator doing arithmetic? What would it look like?
It could look like an electronic object with a plastic shell that starts with “(23 + 54) / (47 * 12 + 76) + 1093” on the screen and some small amount of time after an apple falls from a tree and hits the “Enter” button some number appears on the screen below the earlier input, beginning with “1093.0”, with some other decimal digits following.
If the above doesn’t qualify as the calculator doing “arithmetic” then you’re just using the word in a way that is not just contrary to common usage but also a terrible way to carve reality.
I didn’t do that immediately prior to posting, but I have watched my calculator for a cumulative period of time exceeding several hours, and it has never done arithmetic. I have done arithmetic using said calculator, but that is precisely the point I was trying to make.
Does every device which looks like that do arithmetic, or only devices which could in principle be used to calculate a large number of outcomes? What about an electronic device that only alternates between displaying “(23 + 54) / (47 * 12 + 76) + 1093” and “1093.1203125″ (or “1093.15d285805de42”) and does nothing else?
Does a bucket do arithmetic because the number of pebbles which fall into the bucket, minus the number of pebbles which fall out of the bucket, is equal to the number of pebbles in the bucket? Or does the shepherd do arithmetic using the bucket as a tool?
I didn’t do that immediately prior to posting, but I have watched my calculator for a cumulative period of time exceeding several hours, and it has never done arithmetic. I have done arithmetic using said calculator, but that is precisely the point I was trying to make.
And I would make one of the following claims:
Your calculator has done arithmetic, or
You are using your calculator incorrectly (It’s not a paperweight!) Or
There is a usage of ‘arithmetic’ here that is a highly misleading way to carve reality.
Does every device which looks like that do arithmetic, or only devices which could in principle be used to calculate a large number of outcomes?
In the same way that a cardboard cutout of Decius that has a speech bubble saying “5” over its head would not be said to be doing arithmetic a device that looks like a calculator but just displays one outcome would not be said to be doing arithmetic.
I’m not sure how ‘large’ the number of outcomes must be, precisely. I can imagine particularly intelligent monkeys or particularly young children being legitimately described as doing rudimentary arithmetic despite being somewhat limited in their capability.
Does a bucket do arithmetic because the number of pebbles which fall into the bucket, minus the number of pebbles which fall out of the bucket, is equal to the number of pebbles in the bucket? Or does the shepherd do arithmetic using the bucket as a tool?
It would seem like in this case we can point to the system and say that system is doing arithmetic. The shepherd (or the shepherd’s boss) has arranged the system so that the arithmetic algorithm is somewhat messily distributed in that way. Perhaps more interesting is the case where the bucket and pebble system has been enhanced with a piece of fabric which is disrupted by passing sheep, knocking in pebbles reliably, one each time. That system can certainly be said to be “counting the damn sheep”, particularly since it so easily generalizes to counting other stuff that walks past.
But now allow me to abandon my rather strong notions that “calculators multiply stuff and mechanical sheep counters count sheep”. I’m curious just what the important abstract feature of the universe is that you are trying to highlight as the core feature of ‘arithmetic’. It seems to be something to do with active intent by a generally intelligent agent? So that whenever adding or multiplying is done we need to track down what caused said adding or multiplication to be done, tracing the causal chain back to something that qualifies as having ‘intention’ and say that the ‘arithmetic’ is being done by that agent? (Please correct me if I’m wrong here, this is just my best effort to resolve your usage into something that makes sense to me!)
It’s not a feature of arithmetic, it’s a feature of doing.
I attribute ‘doing’ an action to the user of the tool, not to the tool. It is a rare case in which I attribute an artifact as an agent; if the mechanical sheep counter provided some signal to indicate the number or presence of sheep outside the fence, I would call it a machine that counts sheep. If it was simply a mechanical system that moved pebbles into and out of a bucket, I would say that counting the sheep is done by the person who looks in the bucket.
If a calculator does arithmetic, do the components of the calculator do arithmetic, or only the calculator as a whole? Or is it the system of which does arithmetic?
I’m still looking for a definition of ‘arithmetic’ which allows me to be as sure about whether arithmetic has been done as I am sure about whether excavation has been done.
No, you haven’t. (p=0.9)
It could look like an electronic object with a plastic shell that starts with “(23 + 54) / (47 * 12 + 76) + 1093” on the screen and some small amount of time after an apple falls from a tree and hits the “Enter” button some number appears on the screen below the earlier input, beginning with “1093.0”, with some other decimal digits following.
If the above doesn’t qualify as the calculator doing “arithmetic” then you’re just using the word in a way that is not just contrary to common usage but also a terrible way to carve reality.
Upvoted for this alone.
I didn’t do that immediately prior to posting, but I have watched my calculator for a cumulative period of time exceeding several hours, and it has never done arithmetic. I have done arithmetic using said calculator, but that is precisely the point I was trying to make.
Does every device which looks like that do arithmetic, or only devices which could in principle be used to calculate a large number of outcomes? What about an electronic device that only alternates between displaying “(23 + 54) / (47 * 12 + 76) + 1093” and “1093.1203125″ (or “1093.15d285805de42”) and does nothing else?
Does a bucket do arithmetic because the number of pebbles which fall into the bucket, minus the number of pebbles which fall out of the bucket, is equal to the number of pebbles in the bucket? Or does the shepherd do arithmetic using the bucket as a tool?
And I would make one of the following claims:
Your calculator has done arithmetic, or
You are using your calculator incorrectly (It’s not a paperweight!) Or
There is a usage of ‘arithmetic’ here that is a highly misleading way to carve reality.
In the same way that a cardboard cutout of Decius that has a speech bubble saying “5” over its head would not be said to be doing arithmetic a device that looks like a calculator but just displays one outcome would not be said to be doing arithmetic.
I’m not sure how ‘large’ the number of outcomes must be, precisely. I can imagine particularly intelligent monkeys or particularly young children being legitimately described as doing rudimentary arithmetic despite being somewhat limited in their capability.
It would seem like in this case we can point to the system and say that system is doing arithmetic. The shepherd (or the shepherd’s boss) has arranged the system so that the arithmetic algorithm is somewhat messily distributed in that way. Perhaps more interesting is the case where the bucket and pebble system has been enhanced with a piece of fabric which is disrupted by passing sheep, knocking in pebbles reliably, one each time. That system can certainly be said to be “counting the damn sheep”, particularly since it so easily generalizes to counting other stuff that walks past.
But now allow me to abandon my rather strong notions that “calculators multiply stuff and mechanical sheep counters count sheep”. I’m curious just what the important abstract feature of the universe is that you are trying to highlight as the core feature of ‘arithmetic’. It seems to be something to do with active intent by a generally intelligent agent? So that whenever adding or multiplying is done we need to track down what caused said adding or multiplication to be done, tracing the causal chain back to something that qualifies as having ‘intention’ and say that the ‘arithmetic’ is being done by that agent? (Please correct me if I’m wrong here, this is just my best effort to resolve your usage into something that makes sense to me!)
It’s not a feature of arithmetic, it’s a feature of doing.
I attribute ‘doing’ an action to the user of the tool, not to the tool. It is a rare case in which I attribute an artifact as an agent; if the mechanical sheep counter provided some signal to indicate the number or presence of sheep outside the fence, I would call it a machine that counts sheep. If it was simply a mechanical system that moved pebbles into and out of a bucket, I would say that counting the sheep is done by the person who looks in the bucket.
If a calculator does arithmetic, do the components of the calculator do arithmetic, or only the calculator as a whole? Or is it the system of which does arithmetic?
I’m still looking for a definition of ‘arithmetic’ which allows me to be as sure about whether arithmetic has been done as I am sure about whether excavation has been done.