Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) / quote 18 of 171
The ontology of the digital
There is a strange relationship between digital ideology and the metaphysical belief that our brains also run as computations. It is as if one belief justifies the other. It would indeed be very convenient for Google if it turns out that creating artificial intelligence is just matter of bigger data and faster computers. But what is the ontology of the digital? Are computation and information natural entities upon which our own consciousness and selves can be built? Ontology is just a fancy word that means “the study of what is.” With the ubiquity of computers, information, and data, few would question whether information or computations are real, or even that our own brains are somehow based on computations. However, upon closer examination, these concepts turn out to be as brittle as the latest version of Windows.