Turing meets Thoreau an ecological approach to computer science
pp. 317-330
in: Diederik Aerts, Hubert Van Belle, Jan Van Der Veken (eds), World views and the problem of synthesis, Berlin, Springer, 1999Abstract
To the naturalist Thoreau "in the wild there is the liberation of mankind". To the mathematician Turing human communication can be replaced by computation. To the anthropologist Bateson evolution and thinking follow the same principles, thus mind and nature are a necessary unity. I try to make Turing and Thoreau meet: On Bateson's ground I build a model of mind where thoughts and concepts, feelings and values evolve in interaction like living beings and their genetic representations. Communication then happens locally, in stories and pictures; even when we work with formalisms we have to allow for free interplay with our imagination. The model is fruitful in teaching and research, and helps me to see the development of science as social history. Even as a computer scientist with this view I might help to keep mind and nature in balance, and thus both of them alive.
