Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mailrus!ukma!gatech!linus!mbunix!bwk From: bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Artificial Intelligence and Intelligence Summary: Mutations, Random Errors, Serendipity, and Turing Machines Message-ID: <42328@linus.UUCP> Date: 30 Nov 88 14:33:07 GMT References: <484@soleil.UUCP> <0XTukNy00Xol41W1Ui@andrew.cmu.edu> Sender: news@linus.UUCP Reply-To: bwk@mbunix (Kort) Organization: IdeaSync, Inc., Chronos, VT Lines: 15 In article <0XTukNy00Xol41W1Ui@andrew.cmu.edu> ap1i+@andrew.cmu.edu Andrew C. Plotkin writes: >I maintain that a human can be simulated by a Turing machine. Comments? As a human being, I occasionally cast lots to choose a course of action when my value system is balanced on the razor's edge between two alternatives. Because I want to be sure that my Random Number Generator is not deterministic (like a pseudo-random sequence generator), I use a quantum amplifier in my coin flipper. Correct me if I'm wrong. But a Turing Machine is obliged to follow a deterministic program. Hence a Turing machine cannot simulate my dice-tossing method. --Barry Kort