2007-01-31 01:53:24 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
And does the brain enact a universal Turing machine?
2007-01-31 02:14:56 · update #1
Consciousness is not a necessary accompaniment of a Universal Turing Machine (I will abbreviate this UTM).
The statement, as you ask it, reduces to:
IF [UTM exists] THEN [Consciousness exists]
However, this premise is flawed.
Consciousness is not required for the collapse of a quantum wavestate into an observable state. Any event at all that causes the collapse of a wavestate into a whole quantum number is an 'observation'. In common usage, the term 'observation' clearly implies conscious observation, in quantum physics, this implication is not true.
Presume I have two entangled electrons separated by some distance, and have a quark interact with one of the electrons. The electron is forced into a definate state in order to interact with the quark -- so it enters 'spin up' and this is transmitted to the other electron as 'spin down'. Now imagine thousands, millions, 1.0e+120 particles all forcing the others to collapse into discrete quantum numbers. It becomes a self-observing system, each subsystem observing adjacent systems.
A UTM, like a TM, simply requires a space to perform its computation and a rules set. That's it.
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No, the brain is not a universal turing machine. Unlike a theoretical TM, the brain has finite resources and therefore cannot compute the effects of a TM with a rules set that requires more resources than the brain has available.
It's as if you have a TM that requires 500 tape-cells to perform its computation, but your "U"TM only has 200 tape-cells.
HOWEVER... if it could be shown that the brain was in fact a hypercomputer -- it would be possible. How you'd prove the existence of a Turing Oracle though is beyond me since even Turing realized it would have to be nonmaterial if it existed.
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*chuckles* Leviathan, he's asking about a Turing Machine, not the Turing Test.
2007-01-31 02:03:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Its not but since we don't understand consciousness as such yet (I have some ideas) then its the best test we can come up for.
Some people will say the machine isnt really consious, its just a mass of hardware pretending to be self-aware.
To which I'd say 'Just like us, then.'
*I think you mean the Turning test, a regular computer can be a turing machine without the infinite tape. Maybe you can put a link for people who don't know what it is.*
May I also point out thats its an odd room to ask the question in, do you think consciousness must be accompanied by a 'soul'?
**Well Turing machines dont have to be conscious so the answer to the question is just 'no'.
I guess I chose to see the more interesting question.**
2007-01-31 02:01:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the brain had an infinite amount of memory then it would be a Universal Turing Machine.
I suspect consciousness has much more to do with feedback mechanisms than computability issues.
2007-01-31 03:56:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A consciousness is required to imagine that the machine actually exists.
Without a consciousness to dream the physical dream there is only energy.
Love and blessings Don
2007-01-31 02:00:33 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What book are you reading? Cryptonomicon per chance?
2007-01-31 01:58:49 · answer #5 · answered by Invisible_Flags 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Step away from the bong!
I suggest you eat, and get some rest . . .
2007-01-31 02:00:38 · answer #6 · answered by Clark H 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋