I wanted to give some literature links in case there was anyone who hadn’t previously encountered the argument “if every physical object can with equal justice to be said to implement every computation.”
My understanding is that you’re describing the Simple Mapping Account of what makes something a computer. (As a side note: I’m not quite sure how much confidence I have that it is actually true, given that it is a completely unhelpful way to identify “computers” in any practical sense.)
I’d suggest a curious reader starts with Picinini’s overview:
I wanted to give some literature links in case there was anyone who hadn’t previously encountered the argument “if every physical object can with equal justice to be said to implement every computation.”
My understanding is that you’re describing the Simple Mapping Account of what makes something a computer. (As a side note: I’m not quite sure how much confidence I have that it is actually true, given that it is a completely unhelpful way to identify “computers” in any practical sense.)
I’d suggest a curious reader starts with Picinini’s overview:
Picinini (2010) “Computation in Physical Systems”
Chalmers (1996) “Does a rock implement every finite state automaton?”