Re: A question for tomorrow

Posted by Marcus G. Daniels on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/A-question-for-tomorrow-tp7593073p7593079.html

Turing machines can perform an algorithm like an auto-encoding deep neural net, where a picture of a tree could be categorized as a tree in some internal node.  Likewise activating that internal node might generate an image of a tree (when the Turing machine dreams). 

 

From: Friam <[hidden email]> on behalf of Frank Wimberly <[hidden email]>
Reply-To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[hidden email]>
Date: Friday, April 26, 2019 at 8:19 PM
To: "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]>, The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A question for tomorrow

 

On the way to Friam I said to Nick.  Turing Machines don't know anything.  They may store representations of knowledge.  I further said that a photograph also represents knowledge.  For example, the number of floors of a given building.  Most people would be puzzled by the question, "What does a photo know?"

 

There were multiple parallel conversations after we arrived.  I don't recall additional discussions about what Turing Machines know.

-----------------------------------
Frank Wimberly

My memoir:
https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

My scientific publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone [phone]

 

On Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 8:06 PM Russ Abbott <[hidden email]> wrote:

Nick, I can't believe you are asking such a question -- unless by "know" you mean something very different from the common understanding. No computer knows anything, although it may have lots of stored information. (Information is meant in the Shannon sense.) 

 

For example, Oxford defines knowledge as "Facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject." This is distinct from, for example, having access to an encyclopedia--or even having memorized the contents of one. Turing machines, and computers in general, do not have an understanding of anything--even though they may have lots of Shannon-style information (which we understand as) related to some subject.

 

(Like Glen, though, I am interested in the results, if any, of this morning's meeting.)

 

-- Russ Abbott                                      
Professor, Computer Science
California State University, Los Angeles

 

 

On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 2:38 PM uǝlƃ ☣ <[hidden email]> wrote:

What was the result of this morning's conversation?

On 4/25/19 10:50 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> What does a Turing Machine know?


--
☣ uǝlƃ

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============================================================
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
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove