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Wolfram's 2,3 Turing Machine Is Universal!

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the theory-flashbacks dept.

Rik702 writes "Wolframscience.com have announced that an undergraduate from Birmingham, UK has proved Wolfram's 2,3 Turing Machine is universal." You can read a pdf of the proof as well as some related coverage.

6 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. A New Kind of Science by CRCulver · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember the discussion here five years ago when Wolfram released his book A New Kind of Science . Many claimed that it was hogwash and (as it was apparently not peer-reviewed) irresponsible, but at least the movement he has tried to spark is finally showing some results.

    1. Re:A New Kind of Science by Hijacked+Public · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You don't read a lot of serious science here because this isn't the place for it.

      Every so often a fairly specialized technical discussion will crop up and even to people like me, who are casually interested, it is obvious that people who are serious about the subject are posting. They don't write full blown journal quality posts because a) see above, and b) as you correctly point out, Slashdot's demographic on the whole doesn't have the higher level knowledge necessary to understand them.

      But that doesn't mean there isn't an interesting discussion going on. On the contrary, there are good opportunities to interact with serious people you would otherwise never be able to access. If you can effectively ignore the "I got wireless working under Linux so I know everything" mentality anyway.

      Along the lines of the RIAA submissions from NewYorkCountryLawyer. How many attorneys who actively defend against RIAA lawsuits as their primary practice do you meet in a day?

      --
      "Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
  2. if you like this... by kisrael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    yeah, I know I'm pimping my own site, sosumi...
    Anyway, I was thinking about 1D CA the other week, and realized one of the attractions was that you plot time and make it 2D... but there's no particular reason you can't do the same thing to a 2D CA, like Life...
    http://kisrael.com/2007/10/21/ is the result, ethereal blue sculptures made by plotting 2D Life with Time as a physical dimension.
    I'm not sure if I learned a lot or proved anything, but it *is* pretty...

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  3. Re:An Undergrad? by stranger_to_himself · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am. Not because I don't think they're capable, but when I was an undergrad we just learned things and then repeated them. It took me a long time to believe I could contribute anything meaningful to my subject. I also think it's notable that he was a computer science undergrad, and not reading mathematics. We need to encourage undergrads in math to think more, then maybe we'll see more of this kind of thing.

  4. A flaw in the argument:no *HALT*:resubmit for $25k by viking80 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The original Universal Turing machine was defined to end with the *HALT* instruction. The 2,3 Turing Machine can not halt, and is therefore not universal. It appears that Wolfram conceded that computers today dont really halt, they just keep ticking after the program is complete, so they accepted the 2,3 machine as universal, and the proof as completed.

    Maybe someone should submit the same proof, concluding that it is *not* a universal Turing machine, and claim the $25k.

    --
    don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
  5. Re:Uhh, what? by Eponymous+Bastard · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Became depressed because of:
    - Estrogen treatment: gained weight, physical changes, possibly psychological changes too.
    - Lost his security clearance so couldn't work on any of the crypto/high security work he did. (spies usually tried to subvert homosexual and/or prosecuted people who were dissatisfied with their government). Half of that work couldn't be published either which left him in a bad position as an academic.
    - "most of the scientific community shunned his work due to some personal habits." as the GP said. Guess which habits this means

    Probably caused a lot of rifts in his personal life too.

    BTW, the inspiration for Apple computers' logo was actually Newton's apple. Older logos have a picture of Newton sitting under a tree with a glowing apple above him. It is unknown how much Turing influenced it. People often mention the rainbow apple in this regard.