On Computers

Comments
Miguel Alex Cardenas - http://alex-chi.blogspot.com/2011/01/on-computers.html
Chris Kam - http://chriskam436.blogspot.com/2011/01/on-computers.html

Before I have some fun with this post, I would like to say that I do not think my computer is alive nor have I ever even stopped to consider such an idea. If my computer were alive, then my very typing on the keyboard would likely be causing it great pain at the moment seeing as how I am typing quite furiously in order to get this last blog post done and still have time to study for a quiz in another class.

Though Aristotle focuses on many aspects of the plant in his paper, “On Plants,” such as where they produce their fruit or which part of the plant is aromatic, I’m just going to spend a few minutes exploring the idea that my computer has some portion of a soul just as Aristotle claims that a plant has a portion of a soul near the beginning of his paper,“On Plants.”

Now for the sake of this blog post, let’s say that computers are alive. The computer exhibits some emotion when it gets stressed with too many processes, often works best after a good strike to the side of the tower (not that I’ve ever done such a thing but I’ve seen it done with positive results) as if it fears worse if it does not behave, and tends to get slower over time as if exhibiting some kind of aging process.

My parents have had the same computer for over ten years. I remember watching our first DVD on the thing and playing the original Sims on it back in the day. I also remember it working a lot faster. I often call their computer old and have heard people refer to computers as having a fixed lifespan. Some would assert that computers have a least some portion of a soul since they have “the bloom of youth” when they are first bought and take next to no time to start up and open a program, and “the dissolution of old age” when they get so old that it takes fifteen minutes for the thing to start up and another ten to open Microsoft Outlook (that’s what I see my dad using the most on that old computer).

Though the computer does not eat, it does require electricity to run. One might argue that as a laptop’s battery is depleted, it gets hungry. Once it runs out of energy, it must either be plugged in so that it can recharge or it will “die” while the user is still working with it. To Aristotle, that would mean that the computer has a need for energy and thus feels hungry when it goes without.

To go off of another reading assignment, the one about the Chinese Room, some people claimed that computers can think and understand. To Aristotle, this might be another sign of a living creature.

So there you have it. As you work away on your computer, it’s watching you. It’s aging and fighting to either irritate you with its slow performance or keep you happy as you read this blog. Or at least, that’s what Aristotle might think if he goes by some of the same logic he did back when he wrote “On Plants.”