"The common claim that the brain is a computer is not, at the moment, a concrete, precise, well-understood scientific hypothesis," writes the author, "Still, the claim is almost certainly true." Whether or not the claim is true depends on what you mean by "is a computer", and in this case, what the author is saying is that "the brain performs specific computations," for example, it performs edge-detection in visual perception, or identifies location from sound. So far so good.
But I would say a lot depends on interpretation. When we say "performs specific computations," we imply that it does such-and-such in order to accomplish the result - for example, we might say that the purpose of neural processing is to identify the edges of objects. That certainly is a useful outcome of visual processing. But it's not the intent - it's just what visual perception happens to do. (By analogy: by the same logic, a river can also be said to perform calculations, finding the best way to move water to the ocean. But nobody would say that the river is created the way it is for the purpose of performing these calculations - see the difference?). Anyhow, great article, worth a read.
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