Analog Simulation
Russell Trenholme · Philosophy of Science · 1994
The distinction betweenanaloganddigital representationis reexamined; it emerges that a more fundamental distinction is that between symbolic and analogsimulation. Analog simulationis analyzed in terms of a (near) isomorphism of causal structures between a simulating and a simulated process. It is then argued that a core concept,naturalistic analog simulation, may play a role in a bottom-up theory of adaptive behavior which provides an alternative to representational analyses. The appendix discusses some formal conditions for naturalistic analog simulation.