From: Mikael Hall (mikael.hall@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Oct 13 2009 - 08:45:34 MDT
Thought this link might be relevant in this thread of heated feelings.
http://igoro.com/archive/human-heart-is-a-turing-machine-research-on-xbox-360-shows-wait-what/
Kind Regards
Mikael
2009/10/13 Randall Randall <randall@randallsquared.com>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 05:47:15AM +0100, Mu In Taiwan wrote:
> >
> > your reply to me: "What Turing proved is that in general there is no way
> to
> > prove that any
> > given algorithm will halt."
> >
> > your immediately subsequent reply to Robin: "what Turing proved is that
> in
> > general the only way to know what a random program will do is to watch it
> > for eternity and see."
> >
> > These claims are inconsistent ("any given" != "random", "prove" !=
> "know,
> > watch for eternity and see").
>
> These claims are inconsistent if you assume John is using the usual
> meaning of "in general" as a substitute for "typically". If you take
> it completely literally, it's not inconsistent.
>
> --
> Randall
>
-- "No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical." — Niels Bohr "There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on." — Robert Byrne
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