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Philosophia Mathematica 2005 13(2):228-230; doi:10.1093/philmat/nki008
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Philosophia Mathematica (III), Vol. 13 No. 2 © Oxford University Press, 2005, all rights reserved

Book Review

SELMER BRINGSJORD AND MICHAEL ZENZEN. Superminds: People Harness Hypercomputation, and More. Studies in Cognitive Systems, Volume 29. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003. Pp. xxx + 339. ISBN 1-4020-1094-X.

Elliott Mendelson*

*Queens College (CUNY) Flushing, N. Y. 11367, U. S. A., and CUNY Graduate Center, New York, N. Y. 10016, U. S. A emenqc@msn.com

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This is not science fiction about minds or machines that have powers that exceed those of ordinary men and women. Nor is it a study of people with exceptionally bright intellects. Rather, it is principally a broadside aimed at refuting what the authors call computationalism, the thesis that all thinking is, in one sense or another, computation. That thesis allows, of course, that thinking persons can use sensors (eyes, ears, etc.) to obtain information about the environment and effectors to change that environment as a result of their thought. In the case of logical or mathematical thought, the role of these sensors and effectors is minimal or non-existent. The authors deny that minds are what computationalists claim them to be, but believe that they are actually much more powerful. In the authors' view, minds . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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