For even in the study of animals unattractive to the senses, the nature that fashioned them offers immeasurable pleasures in the same way to those who can learn the causes and are naturally lovers of wisdom. It would be unreasonable, indeed absurd, to enjoy studying their representations on that grounds that we thereby study the art that fashioned them (painting or sculpture), but not to welcome still more the study of the actual things composed by nature, at least when we can survey their causes. Therefore we must avoid a childish distaste for examining the less valued animals.
— AristotleParts of Animals, Book 1:5

Archive for the 'Turing Machines' Category

AI fails at mimicry

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

This Technology Review article, “A Turing Test for Computer Game Bots”, demonstrates the vast gulf which exists between computer algorithm and human behavior. The premise of the AI attempt:
Can a computer fool expert gamers into believing it’s one of them? That was the question posed at the second annual BotPrize, a three-month contest that concluded […]

The Finite Nature of Computability

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

In Introduction to Metamathematics, S.C. Kleene begins his chapter on Turing machines with the following informal characterization [1]:

Suppose that a person is to compute the value of a function for a given set of arguments by following preassigned effective instructions. In performing the computation he will use a finite number of distinct symbols or tokens […]

Comments on Wells’ “In Defense of Mechanism”

Saturday, January 5th, 2008

A 2006 paper attempting to criticize some of Rosen’s arguments, entitled “In Defense of Mechanism” by A.J. Wells [1], was recently brought to my attention. The paper makes a lengthy series of erroneous arguments based on misinterpretations of Rosen’s arguments. Wells begins with a list of statements drawn from Rosen’s Life Itself [2]. He then […]

Wolfram awards his 2,3 Turing Machine Research Prize

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

 
Update 10/26:  Some interesting discussions regarding this award are occurring on the FOM list.
 
From wolframscience.com:

Wolfram’s 2,3 Turing Machine Is Universal!
October 24, 2007–Wolfram Research and Stephen Wolfram today announced that 20-year-old Alex Smith of Birmingham, UK has won the US $25,000 Wolfram 2,3 Turing Machine Research Prize.
In his 2002 book A New Kind of Science, Stephen Wolfram hypothesized […]

Remarks on Chu-Ho Fall 2007

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Dominique Chu and Wen Kin Ho iterate their previous exercises in misunderstanding and misconstruing of Rosen’s work with their latest paper, “Computational Realizations of Living Systems“, in the Fall 2007 issue of the MIT journal Artificial Life [1]. The abstract:

Robert Rosen’s central theorem states that organisms are fundamentally different from machines, mainly because they are ‘‘closed with respect to efficient causation.” The proof […]

Can a nematode fit in a computer?

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

As reported in the Economist:

As he told “The next 10 years”, a conference organised by Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England, Dr Harel has been working on a computer model of C. elegans. He hopes this will reveal exactly how pluripotent stem cells—those capable of becoming any sort of mature cell—decide which speciality they will take […]