POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : Back to the future : Re: Back to the future [~200KBbu] Server Time
11 Oct 2024 05:19:51 EDT (-0400)
  Re: Back to the future [~200KBbu]  
From: Darren New
Date: 29 Jul 2008 14:42:47
Message: <488f64a7$1@news.povray.org>
Jim Henderson wrote:
> This is the problem, though:  The assumption is that computing will 
> always use a Turing model, like I said.

No, computing doesn't today using a Turing model, and the Halting 
problem applies to many more computing models than the Turing model.

The Halting problem isn't solvable. If you come up with a new computing 
model that "solves" it, what you're solving isn't the halting problem 
any more.

It's like arguing "Maybe 2+2 will equal 6 some day, if 2 turns into 3." 
But if 2 turns into 3, you're not longer adding 2+2.

The halting problem is a precisely defined mathematical construct. Maybe 
  newer computing models might conceivably obsolete the implications of 
the halting problem, but they won't actually negate its proof. (In the 
same sense, that computers are far faster may obsolete the problems 
caused by some algorithms taking O(N^3) instructions, but that doesn't 
make the algorithm take fewer instructions.)

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.


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