+2 On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 11:40 PM, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote:
> A spontaneous Haiku inspired by a pithy friend's analysis of our > discussion: > > *The Halting Problem** > **Pretty Girl; Cocktail Party** > **Knowing when to sto**p* > > > I don't think the beautiful woman would accept "go read the Wikipedia > article" as am answer. > > N > > -----Original Message----- > From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com <friam-boun...@redfish.com>] On > Behalf Of Joseph Spinden > Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 8:21 PM > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Isomorphism between computation and philosophy > > Owen is right that there are N! ways to map a set of N objects 1-1, onto > another set of N objects. The first object can go to 1 of N objects, the > next to 1 of N-1, etc. That's pretty standard. > > As to the Halting Problem, Why not start with the first few lines of the > Wikipedia article ? That is simple and easy to understand. > > Joe > > > > > On 4/17/13 7:32 PM, lrudo...@meganet.net wrote: > > Nick asks Owen: > > > So, Owen, you meet a beautiful woman at a cocktail party. She seems > intelligent, not a person to be fobbed off, but has no experience > with either Maths or Computer Science. She looks deep into your > eyes, and asks "And what, Mr. Densmore, is the halting problem?" You > find yourself torn between two impulses. One is to use the language > that would give you credibility in the world of your mentors and > colleagues. But you realize that that language is going to be of > absolutely no use to her, however ever much it might make you feel > > authoritative to use it. She expects an answer. > > Yet you hesitate. What language do you use? > > You would start, would you not, with the idea of a "problem." A > problem is some sort of difficulty that needs to be surmounted. > There is a goal and something that thwarts that goal. What are these > > elements in the halting > > PROBLEM? And why is HALTING a problem? > > Nick, Owen may well disagree, but from my point of view you've already > staked a dubious claim, by assuming (defensably) that "problem" in the > MathEng phrase "Halting Problem" can and should be understood to be > the same word as "problem" in your dialect of English. But this is, I > > think, a false assumption. Now, at least, whatever the case was when the > "Halting Problem" > > got its original name (in MathGerman, I think), the meaning that > "Halting Problem" conveys in MathEng is the same (or nearly the same) > as that conveyed by "Halting Question". "Problem" is there for > historical reasons, just as, in geometric topology, a certain question > of considerable interest and importance (which has been answered for > fewer decades than has the "Halting Problem") is still called--even in > > MathEng!--"the Hauptvermutung". The framing in terms of "a goal" and > "something that thwarts" is delusive. There is, rather, "a question" > > and--if you must be florid--a "quest for an answer". Note, "*an* > answer". Of course, at an extreme level (I can't decide whether it's > the highest or the lowest: I *hate* "level" talk precisely for this > kind of reason) there is *the* answer ("no"). But that isn't, in > itself, very interesting (any more: of course it was before it was > known to be "the" answer). *How* you get to "no" is interesting, and > there are (by now) many different "hows" (for the "Halting Question", the > > Hauptvermutung, Poincare's Conjecture, and so forth and so on), each of > which is *an* answer (as are many of the "not hows"). > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe > at St. John's College to unsubscribe > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > -- *Doug Roberts d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*<http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> * <http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile*
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