Nonclassical constituents can be causally effective
The constituents of the tensor product representation may have causal powers in the same way that naturally occurring (nonclassical) constituents do.
For example, the wake left by motorboat is a complex superposition of wave motions, none of which are explicitly contained or tokened on the surface of the water.

Nevertheless, nonclassical constituent waves have numerous causal effects, including “setting a boy into bobbing in a certain way, knocking down a skier, think contributing to the destruction of a sandcastle”


Terence Horgan and John Tienson (1992) p.212.
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Artificial Intelligence »Artificial Intelligence
Can computers think? [1] »Can computers think? [1]
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The Connectionist Dilemma »The Connectionist Dilemma
Connectionist representations avoid the dilemma »Connectionist representations avoid the dilemma
Tensor product representations »Tensor product representations
Constituents lack causal powers »Constituents lack causal powers
Nonclassical constituents can be causally effective
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