tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post6769735956818225182..comments2023-12-21T06:35:36.624-05:00Comments on Recursivity: Turing vs. the CreationistsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-59094166296455374982010-06-05T10:05:53.360-04:002010-06-05T10:05:53.360-04:00hehe. Even modern game "animation" is ac...hehe. Even modern game "animation" is actually <a href="http://www.tedafrica.org/talks/torsten_reil_studies_biology_to_make_animation.html" rel="nofollow">virtually evolved behavior</a> using genetic algorithms. The behavior of the characters in the games are evolved in advance and are as unpredictable as real people.Taninhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00163457269970857582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-27094756884452683862010-05-22T11:14:25.868-04:002010-05-22T11:14:25.868-04:00"But though this information clearly exists i..."But though this information clearly exists in some sense, it's impossible to say what kind of thing it is, because it isn't a thing at all. Whatever this may be, it isn't material, and it isn't bound by physical laws."<br /><br />Ah, so the Dow-Jones Average is a sign from God! Or, as the case may be, His opposite number. . . .Blake Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13977394981287067289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-58071742168693032712010-05-21T16:52:15.786-04:002010-05-21T16:52:15.786-04:00OT: Please wipe up Andrew Brown's moronic droo...OT: Please wipe up <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2010/may/20/craig-venter-life-god" rel="nofollow">Andrew Brown's</a> moronic droolings about information in his post about Craig Venter's accomplishment. I'd do it myself, but I don't have a blog or the required patience to address such combined ignorance and stupidity.<br /><br />"But at this moment of complete victory for materialism something odd has happened: the chemical and material world turns out to be entirely shaped by something called "information".<br /><br />"Life is basically the result of an information process – a software process" says Venter, and "Starting with the information in a computer, we put it into a recipient cell, and convert it into a news species". But though this information clearly exists in some sense, it's impossible to say what kind of thing it is, because it isn't a thing at all. Whatever this may be, it isn't material, and it isn't bound by physical laws. Information turns out to be as elusive and as omnipresent as God once was."stvsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-12909795887565328382010-05-20T12:40:11.870-04:002010-05-20T12:40:11.870-04:00One remarkable thing about the creationists who tr...One remarkable thing about the creationists who try to do mathematics (Dembski being the prime example) is that they make no contact with the actual mathematics of evolutionary biology. For them, it's always about "disproving Darwinism" by meaningless mumblings about search algorithms, instead of, say, <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v10/n8/full/nrg2603.html" rel="nofollow">quantitative fitness measures in population genetics</a>.Blake Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13977394981287067289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-20499944021971718082010-05-20T04:05:40.905-04:002010-05-20T04:05:40.905-04:00If creationists want to avoid being defeated by th...<i>If creationists want to avoid being defeated by the ghost of Alan Turing, they need to spend more time reading about what is known in computer science and biology.</i><br /><br />But if they do that, they may start thinking in rational terms and thus abandon their field (creationism/intelligent design). They wouldn't want to do that!Takis Konstantopouloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14675216467783238403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-39630350598676212292010-05-19T14:22:30.283-04:002010-05-19T14:22:30.283-04:00Ha! Now you've got me imagining Turing as a re...Ha! Now you've got me imagining Turing as a replacement for MC Hawking in the song <i>F**k the Creationists</i>.IvanMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-78295009314619284262010-05-19T14:12:27.675-04:002010-05-19T14:12:27.675-04:00By this same argument, since the brain makes no di...By this same argument, since the brain makes no distinction between processor and RAM, "consciousness, from an informatics point of view, has zero credibility."<br /><br />I guess that IS true for creationists.adminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01020701980607126113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-68777253036481508482010-05-19T13:42:28.595-04:002010-05-19T13:42:28.595-04:00James writes: "... has there ever been a comp...James writes: "... has there ever been a computer that draws a fundamental hardware distinction between data and code?"<br /><br />Indeed, there have been many - thought they were generally considered dinosaurs by the 1970's. We had an IBM 402 Accounting Machine or a very similar model, at my high school: http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/402.htmlDan Eastwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105563883467108602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-11987125770358058142010-05-19T13:26:07.504-04:002010-05-19T13:26:07.504-04:00That post, like so many others at UD, reminds me o...That post, like so many others at UD, reminds me of this comic:<br /><br /><a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/revolutionary.png" rel="nofollow">Overturning Science</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10538070410910465649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-3793521434141389562010-05-19T12:07:40.706-04:002010-05-19T12:07:40.706-04:00I don't know my history of computing very well...I don't know my history of computing very well.<br /><br />But, since the first recognisable electronic computers, has there <i>ever</i> been a computer that draws a fundamental hardware distinction between data and code?<br /><br />I would guess (and hope) not.James Cranchhttp://www.srcf.ucam.org/~jdc41noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-78980409316032209882010-05-19T11:52:38.303-04:002010-05-19T11:52:38.303-04:00One word: LISP.One word: LISP.RBHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13562135000111792590noreply@blogger.com