On Friday, January 31, 2014 4:16:12 PM UTC-5, Liz R wrote: > > On 1 February 2014 09:39, Craig Weinberg <[email protected] <javascript:> > > 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...") >
Ok, so then everything is output from the UD plus output from whatever computater you are saying generates everything that is not an appearance. > >> 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. > Genetics are absorbing all kinds of inputs and producing outputs. The blind watchmaker is a theory about evolution, not an example of a real computation which is known to be without input or output. > >> 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? > What are the binary digits which define "input"? > > 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...) > > Cool. -- 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.
