We are no different than computers

[The Grand Nudger]

@Nestor, comp mind doesn't have anything to say, directly, on whether or not we compute intentionally - or whether or not the universe in it's totality is a comp system.  While it doesn't rule out intent, it certainly does suggest that many observed effects attributed -to- intent are, more accurately, machine artifact.  

Ultimately, comp mind suggests that sentience, thought, -being- relies upon the same logical operations that we see present in the universe around us, sure.  It suggests that -if- a human being can compare, and -if- a computer can compare, perhaps human beings and computers leverage that same -if- relationship, that same logical operator, between constituent components in order to do so. In offering that kind of explanation, however,the invocation of those relationships are explicit- there are requirements for the structure and arrangement of those operations to be called comp or comp mind. So, for example, even if rocks were toggles - they are not arranged in such a way as to facilitate computation or comp mind.  They are lacking in necessary relationships and/or necessary component/constituent assemblies.  Rocks don't have associated inputs, alu, memory, language, or output.  No matter how many rocks you pile together, they don't seem to be able to meet those requirements (even though, if you chisel a rock down and etch it's surface you -can- build a chip)...... The material is capable] of being used to perform logical operations (and if it were not then we would not be able to build silicon chips) but it does not, in the form we generally find it, actually perform those operations, nor do we find that rocks are naturally arranged in such a manner as to form the breadth of operations required for consideration -at a minimum- as a comp system.  

Rinse and repeat with "the universe as a whole".   That, to me, is what's so amazing about mind....not that we are able to perform logical functions with our minds (after all..a weighty number of sufficiently chiseled rocks arranged in a fairly braod spectrum of patterns can do that..eh?) but that the structure of our minds was, seemingly, brute forced into it's current iteration. Not only our minds or our computers (which, granted are amazing) but other implementations of the same principles - the nueral nets of jellyfish that provide electro-mechanical impulse to their biological motors directly with no need for intermediary processing as a damned fine Nav package, the chemical language of plants which, while seeming so simple to us as to not present even simple computation (let alone mind) in a recognizable form.. do possess functional and specific knowledge of self/surroundings/other, can communicate with entirely disparate forms of life (the relationship between greenleaf voc and predatory wasps) - can even express recognizable attributes and behaviors such as communication of duress, predatory risk taking and kin selection........

A little computing goes a long way - clearly,.......and it may not take -quite- as much computing as we think to reach a level we would recognize as mind. We have big brains, complex systems - by anyone's measure...but they're brute forced systems (and we need very little of our brains in order to function....google "the man with no brain")...and as such it's difficult to accept that a more efficient and robust implementation would not be possible. For those of us that hold that -mind- is something other than brain it will still, likely, be conceived of complex system capable of performing a wide range of logical operations...(a good working definition of a computer..right thur..btw..lol) - and thats fin..again..look at what those far simpler systems I just referenced can do...what they can express.

We can demonstrate both that comp is possible and does occur (but also when/where it does not), and that the effect is glorious and often unexpected.