Is a computer a physical system or a conceptual system or both?

Answer

If by "computer" one means ‘a physical unit, such as a box, with electrical circuits inside’, then a "computer" is a physical system. For instance: when data is stored "inside” a "computer", that data is most likely recorded on a hard disk. That is accomplished inside a device called a “hard drive”; it works by mechanically changing the pattern of particles on the surface of the disk that is inside it. The change in particles can also be detected and read back as data.

Of course the “computer” has no idea what the data “means”. Meaning is conceptual. The computing device is mechanical, even though there are no moving parts like in a lawn mower engine.

However, there is a major conceptual aspect to computing. It is common to say that computers either accomplish goals or at least aid in the accomplishment of goals. Goals are purely conceptual. There is no physical entity that is a goal. Likewise, a condition in which a goal is accomplished is also conceptual. In fact everything that can be seen on a computer screen, such as text, graphics, and other user interface objects are conceptual in nature. What is seen is only meaningful within some predefined conceptual context. Text may come in the form of Latin characters strung together to form English words. Graphics may depict conceptual or physical objects or systems.

This is comparable to text or graphics in a book. The book is a physical system, the information itself, taken as a whole, forms a conceptual system. Also, each word, statement and collection of statements, is a conceptual object and system (depending on how it is interpreted).

First answer by ID0000000000. Last edit by ID0000000000. Question popularity: 75 [recommend question]