Monday, August 01, 2011

Those Creationists are Just so Darn Cute When They Try To Do Math

From Eric Holloway, we learn:

Interestingly, Kolmogrov complexity is uncomputable in the general case due to the halting problem. This means that in general no algorithm can generate orderliness more often than is statistically expected to show up by chance. Hence, if some entity is capable of generating orderliness more often than statistically predicted, it must be capabable, at least to some extent, of solving the halting problem.

From the moronic misspellings of "Kolmogorov" and "capable" to the moronic misunderstanding of algorithms, what they can generate, and the halting problem, this is just too funny for words.

But remember, Uncommon Descent is destined to replace the New York Times as the respected source for news!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have come to the distinct conclusion that the emotional development of atheists may halt in the middle of puberty.

manuel moe g said...

Hence, when I sort my socks out of the dryer, I am solving the general halting problem.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it was cute when guys like Gardner and Erdos did math.

Miranda said...

"From the moronic misspellings of "Kolmogorov" and "capable"..."

What, you missed "uncomputable"?

Miranda said...

Sometimes our spell-checking skills can be pretty mediore.

From your "Phillies Games, Old and New" post:

"Back in '67 the Phillies had some good players (Johnny Callison, Richie Allen, Cookie Rojas, Jim Bunning) but overall they were pretty mediore."

Takis Konstantopoulos said...

Who is this IDIOT? I looked at the link you gave, and the previous one, and I can't make sense at all. And, mind you, I know a thing or two about probabilities.

I initially thought you are two harsh by picking one misspelling of Kolmogorov, but then I saw it's uniformly wrong in his article. I tried to understand what he means by "infinite probabilistic resources", but, alas, I have no clue:

The end result is that with an infinite number of probabilistic resources the case for ID may be discredited, but then so is every other scientific theory.

We should, however, realize that the audience of these idiots consists of religious folk who merely want to hear from an "authority figure" that their beliefs are based on "science". This is what this fellow does.

But, really, who is he? Has he ever opened a book in probability? I searched the Internet but I could only find more stupidities.

Anonymous said...

So, God can write a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program-input pairs. Next I suppose he'll make a rock big enough that he can't lift. Clever God...

dete said...

A reference to his previous article is represented as a footnote, which I then had to copy and paste into the address bar.

I shouldn't be surprised that they don't understand the web any better than natural selection, the idea is much newer!

Jeffrey Shallit said...

Thanks, Miranda, for the spelling correction! You continue to delight and astound with your perspicacity.

Takis Konstantopoulos said...

Here is a possible explanation for the spelling of Kolmogorov as Kolmogrov by that imbecile Eric Holloway:

In Russian, the word is stressed on the third syllable: KolmogOrov. Some English speakers pronounce the word with a stress on the second syllable (KolmOgorov) while, at the same time, shortening the length of the third one. Perhaps, the stupid Holloway, has never seen the word written down. He may have heard it, in passing, in an ID cocktail party.

It is absolutely clear (not from the misspelling, but from the unfathomable stupidities he writes), that the dope Holloway has never opened a book in Probability.

Curt Cameron said...

As a non-mathematician (I have an EE degree), I wonder: do you Jeffrey have a clue about what he's getting at?

It sounds to me like he's getting the Halting Problem and the No Free Lunch Theorem mixed up, and otherwise is trying to throw a bunch of convoluted, opaque sentences together to baffle the rubes.

Miranda said...

imbecile... stupid... dope...
Where can I find the Thesaurus you're using?

Jeffrey Shallit said...

Curt:

Mr. Holloway is so irremediably confused that it is not easy to discern the origin of his confusion.

Jeffrey Shallit said...

Miranda:

I admire your efforts to improve your own vocabulary.

Takis Konstantopoulos said...

Miranda,

Wouldn't it be nice too if this eejit Holloway also opened a book in Probability Theory to learn some simple things?

P.S. "eejit" can be found in a Scots language thesaurus.

Anonymous said...

Shallit, your posts happen at odd hours. Adequate sleep is essential to proper mental health you know?

Jeffrey Shallit said...

Anonymous:

There is an interesting concept called the "time zone". Maybe you should learn about it.

The BIG T said...

@Shallit

Nice zinger on Anonymous regarding time zones.

Anonymous said...

'it was cute when guys like Gardner and Erdos did math'

I don't know whether Berkeley was a creationist, but I am pretty sure Isaac Newton was.

Also, I have come to the conclusion that human emotional development halts before puberty.

Paul M said...

"So, God can write a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program-input pairs."

Sure - it's just a big lookup table with every possibility listed. He is God, after all …

Paul M said...

"So, God can write a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program-input pairs."

Sure. It's just a big lookup table with every possibility listed. He is God, after all.

Of more interest is the question of how he himself - his brain - does the work. Possibly unanswerable, as we know of no instance of a mind existing without a brain on which to execute.