Note that, if one accepts Moravec’s premise that mind depends on pattern-identity rather than body-identity, it remains a further assumption that the analog nature of brain processes doesn’t matter. If brain processes really are analog, that’s a feature of the pattern, not just the body. Digital processes which generate equally effective problem-solving results may or may not do so via the same mental events. Or, maybe that falls into the semantic gray-zone of mental terminology.
If all you want to do is hire an effective engineer, it doesn’t matter. (Assuming gwern is correct that the learning advantage of analog systems is imaginary.) If you want to create fun, it might.
Note that, if one accepts Moravec’s premise that mind depends on pattern-identity rather than body-identity, it remains a further assumption that the analog nature of brain processes doesn’t matter. If brain processes really are analog, that’s a feature of the pattern, not just the body. Digital processes which generate equally effective problem-solving results may or may not do so via the same mental events. Or, maybe that falls into the semantic gray-zone of mental terminology.
If all you want to do is hire an effective engineer, it doesn’t matter. (Assuming gwern is correct that the learning advantage of analog systems is imaginary.) If you want to create fun, it might.