On 1 February 2014 09:39, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Is there any instance in which a computation is employed in which no >> > program or data is input and from which no data is expected as output? >> >> The UD. >> > > Isn't everything output from the UD? > No, as I understand it, only the appearance of everything. (Comp answers the question "why is there something rather than nothing" by "it depends what you mean by something...") > > How does the program itself get to be a program without being input? > See genetic algorithms for one example. See genetics for another. A "blind watchmaker" can make a computer programme, although we can normally write one a lot more efficiently. > > It seems to me though, and this is why I posted this thread, that i/o is > taken for granted and has no real explanation of what it is in mathematical > terms. > No mathematical explanation for what input and output are?! They both come down to binary digits, how mathematical do you want it to be? > The rest of your post seems a lot more sensible and I will leave those questions for Bruno to agree or disagree, I would also like to know how numbers can make an effort (as would Xenocrates! If John will forgive the reference...) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
