On the way to Friam I said to Nick. Turing Machines don't know anything. They may store representations of knowledge. I further said that a photograph also represents knowledge. For example, the number of floors of a given building. Most people would be puzzled by the question, "What does a photo know?"
There were multiple parallel conversations after we arrived. I don't recall additional discussions about what Turing Machines know. ----------------------------------- Frank Wimberly My memoir: https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly My scientific publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2 Phone (505) 670-9918 On Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 8:06 PM Russ Abbott <[email protected]> wrote: > Nick, I can't believe you are asking such a question -- unless by "know" > you mean something very different from the common understanding. No > computer *knows* anything, although it may have lots of stored > information. (*Information *is meant in the Shannon sense.) > > For example, Oxford defines > <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/knowledge> knowledge as "Facts, > information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the > theoretical or practical understanding of a subject." This is distinct > from, for example, having access to an encyclopedia--or even having memorized > the contents of one. Turing machines, and computers in general, do not have > an *understanding *of anything--even though they may have lots of > Shannon-style information (which *we *understand as) related to some > subject. > > (Like Glen, though, I am interested in the results, if any, of this > morning's meeting.) > > -- Russ Abbott > Professor, Computer Science > California State University, Los Angeles > > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 2:38 PM uǝlƃ ☣ <[email protected]> wrote: > >> What was the result of this morning's conversation? >> >> On 4/25/19 10:50 PM, Nick Thompson wrote: >> > What does a Turing Machine know? >> >> >> -- >> ☣ uǝlƃ >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >> FRIAM-COMIC <http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/FRIAM-COMIC> >> http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove >> > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
