> On 30 Sep 2018, at 08:03, Philip Thrift <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 12:30:33 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote: > > > On Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 9:28:34 PM UTC, Philip Thrift wrote: > > > On Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 3:53:04 PM UTC-5, Brent wrote: > > > On 9/29/2018 1:45 PM, [email protected] <> wrote: >> >> >> On Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 8:07:12 PM UTC, Brent wrote: >> >> >> On 9/29/2018 4:34 AM, [email protected] <> wrote: >>> A bacteria is already a computer (at least), >>> >>> >>> Really? Then you should be able to identify the entities that store binary >>> information. And where is the clock which pulses and advances the >>> instruction pointer? And where is the instruction pointer located? AG >> >> Not all computers are von Neumann computers. >> >> Brent >> >> Maybe he means a parallel processor, but whatever he means should be spelled >> out explicitly. One can't just assert, as if it's obvious, that a bacteria >> is already a computer. > > Of course it is obvious that a bacterium computes things...like swimming > toward nutrients and how to make another bacterium. > > Brent > > > Bacterial computing: a form of natural computing and its applications > - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3971165/ > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3971165/> > > Bacteria make computers look like pocket calculators > - https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/jul/24/bacteria-computer > <https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/jul/24/bacteria-computer> > > Bacteria Can Now Be Programmed Like a Computer > - > https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/43d9en/bacteria-can-now-be-programmed-like-a-computer > > <https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/43d9en/bacteria-can-now-be-programmed-like-a-computer> > > > - pt > > What is a computer -- what is it -- that bacteria can be seen as being like? > Why bother to define it. Nothing obvious here except sloppy use of analogies. > AG > > > > > > What is a computer? > > A computer is a device that executes programs. > > If we can synthesize bacteria that execute programs (which we can do), then > these bacteria are computers.
OK. You might add “… that can execute all programs”. In any programming language. All universal number (mathematical computer, universal Turing machine, …) can imitate any other universal numbers. Either by Rogers compilation theorem, or by the usual interpretation theorems. Bruno > > - pt > > > -- > 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] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list > <https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
