---
title: From Perception to Computation
heroTitle: From Perception to Computation
heroSubtitle: Rebuilding what computation is, starting from perception
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## Where I've got to so far
- A computer is **a notebook that rewrites itself according to rules**
- An old notebook keeps only the state on paper; a computer keeps the rules there too
- All a Turing machine does is **read, rewrite, move**. The rest is notation †
- A notebook is an extension of the workbench in your head — it only holds five or six slots, so you put it outside †
- What matters is not compression but **grounding** †
The spine, in one line — **perception → distinction → projection → grounding → computation → the computer**
<small>† These formulations came out of conversations with an AI and I adopted them. Inside each note they are marked `[AI]`.</small>
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