Re: Poll: Are PCs Turing Machines?

From: Eray Ozkural exa (examachine_at_gmail.com)
Date: 12/03/04 

Date: 3 Dec 2004 02:47:25 -0800

"Mark Nudelman" <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com> wrote in message news:<BCKrd.600129$mD.87873@attbi_s02>...
> Eray Ozkural exa wrote:
> > examachine@gmail.com (Eray Ozkural exa) wrote in message
> > news:<320e992a.0412011208.2b75bc@posting.google.com>...
> >> I wonder what people really think about this.
> >>
> >> Are PCs physical examples to Turing Machines? [*]
> >>
> >> Please write only Yes/No to avoid discussion.
> >
> > A clarification is in order.
> ...
> > We usually consider equivalence in computability to be a sufficient
> > condition for being a physical example to a model of computation,
> > essentially covering the capabilities of "causal mechanism" involved.
> ...
> > It may be regarded sufficient that we can find a TM counterpart to
> > everything essential to computation in a PC, and the other way around.
>
> Still "no".
>
> A TM can perform a calculation that requires 10^1000 storage cells, but no
> PC or any other physical computer could do that.

Hi Mark,

There is another reading comprehension problem involved. Wearing the
philosopher hat, I think I should have made this one clear as well:

I do not ask the following:

Is the set of all PCs computationally equivalent to the set of all TMs
(whatever that means)

I ask:
  Given a PC. Is it computationally equivalent to *a* Turing Machine?

That's a completely different question. I suggest you to consider the
latter reading, which is the correct reading.

Regards, 

--
Eray Ozkural

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Poll: Are PCs Turing Machines?
    ... >> A clarification is in order. ... >> It may be regarded sufficient that we can find a TM counterpart to ... > PC or any other physical computer could do that. ... There is another reading comprehension problem involved. ...
    (comp.theory)
  • Re: Poll: Are PCs Turing Machines?
    ... Eray Ozkural exa wrote: ... > A clarification is in order. ... > It may be regarded sufficient that we can find a TM counterpart to ... PC or any other physical computer could do that. ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Poll: Are PCs Turing Machines?
    ... Eray Ozkural exa wrote: ... > A clarification is in order. ... > It may be regarded sufficient that we can find a TM counterpart to ... PC or any other physical computer could do that. ...
    (comp.theory)
  • Re: Windows 2000 Source Code File
    ... Law is always subject to clarification. ... Then one has to ask "what is reading"? ... Is the machine copying, or are ...
    (comp.os.linux.setup)
  • Re: Epistemology 201: The Science of Science
    ... Neil W Rickert wrote: ... I don't remember reading that message. ... >>asking for a clarification of the 'mathematical' meaning of ...
    (sci.math)