Uploaded March 2020 | Updated September 2026, 13 minutes ago

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Neuroscientists and psychologists regularly appeal to computation to explain (and not just model) what the brain and mind is doing. But it is rather clear that, whatever they mean by computation, it is not digital computation. Could it be analog computation? Based on historical examples, I argue that there is more to analog computation than just the use of continuous variables. Surprisingly to some, analog computation can be discrete as well as continuous, yet distinct from digital computation. This conception of analog computation might be exactly what is needed to make sense of claims that systems like brains literally compute.

Corey Maley, University of Kansas
March 11, 2020

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