Goedel's theorem doesn't apply to robots (RE: SL5)

From: Phil Goetz (philgoetz@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Aug 18 2005 - 09:43:53 MDT


> --- Ben Goertzel <ben@goertzel.org> wrote:
>
> > Godelian arguments can show, at most, that for any
> > finite computational
> > system there is some limit (of theorem-proving
> > power) beyond which
> > self-improvement can't lead the system.

Can Goedelian arguments show ANYTHING
about systems that interact with the real world?
Goedel's theorem is about proofs. Every step of
the proof takes place within a logic system.
Systems that interact with the world, at some point,
are receiving data that was not generated within
that logic systems. Observation of that data may
enable the system to arrive at conclusions that
could not be made by logical operations within
that logic system.

In other words, what a robot does is more like
performing proofs within a logic system that has
access to an oracle. Clearly Goedel's incompleteness
theorem can't apply to a system that has an oracle.

- Phil Goetz

                
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