 The idea that meaning is essentially a computational phenomenon may seem extreme, but here are many discussions and theories in science, philosophy and culture that implicitly assume such a view. In popular culture, e.g., there is a remarkable collection of movies and books in which we find evil computers that are conscious of themselves (2001, A Space Odyssey), individuals that upload their consciousness to a computer (1992, The Lawnmower Man), and fight battles in virtual realities (1999, The Matrix). In philosophy the position of Bostrom (2003), who defends the view that it is very likely that we already live in a computer simulation, is illustrative. There are many ways to argue the pros and cons of the reduction of meaning to computation. We give an overview of possible arguments for the two extreme positions: 