On 9/20/2012 11:48 AM, Jason Resch wrote:
On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Craig Weinberg
<whatsons...@gmail.com <mailto:whatsons...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Here's another reductio ad absurdum illustration of comp.
If the version of comp we are discussing here is independent of
physics, then shouldn't it be possible for us to program universal
machines using only empty space? Length can be quantified, so why
can't we just use millimeters or Planck lengths as the basis for
our enumeration, addition, and multiplication and directly program
from our mind to space?
Of course, it would be hard to know where it was because we would
be constantly flying away from a space that was anchored to an
absolute position independent of Earth, the solar system, Milky
Way, etc, but that shouldn't matter anyhow since whatever method
we use to directly program in empty space with our minds should
also give us access to the results of the computations.
Right this is already the case. That we can use our minds to access
the results.
What do you think? Just as wafers of silicon glass could in theory
be functionally identical to a living brain, wouldn't it be
equally prejudiced to say that empty space isn't good enough to
host the computations of silicon?
We don't even need empty space, we can use thought alone to figure out
the future evolution of computers that already exist in Platonia and
then get the result of any computation. The problem is we are slow at
doing this, so we build machines that can tell us what these platonic
machines do with greater speed and accuracy than we ever could.
It's not doing the computations that is hard, the computations are
already there. The problem is learning their results.
Jason
It takes the consumption of resources to "learn the results". This
is what I have been yelling at Bruno about the entire time since I first
read his beautiful papers. Understanding is never free.
--
Onward!
Stephen
http://webpages.charter.net/stephenk1/Outlaw/Outlaw.html
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