Are Mathematicians In Jeopardy?

Re:Are Mathematicians In Jeopardy? by cousin_it on Thursday February 17, 2011 @04:15PM (#2232897)

There's a reason why my argument never mentioned Turing computability :-) If a human brain uses quantum effects to get cognitive bonuses, you can build a quantum computer that does same. If the brain uses super-duper unified field theory, you can build a machine to take advantage of that, and so on. The only assumption I make about the human brain is that it doesn't run on magic juju that's available exclusively to humans by the orders of Cthulhu, and I think that assumption is quite warranted.

(As far as I know, neurons can be approximated well enough by classical computers and you don't even need to go quantum, but that's another story.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Are Mathematicians In Jeopardy? by signa11 on Friday February 18, 2011 @12:42AM (#2234388)

moon-is-a-harsh-mistress quote:

Am not going to argue whether a machine can "really" be alive, "really" be self-aware. Is a virus self-aware? Nyet! How about oyster? I doubt it. A cat? Almost certainly. A human? Don't know about you tovarishch, but I am. Somewhere along evolutionary chain from macromolecule to human brain self-awareness crept in. Psychologists assert it happens automatically whenever a brain acquires certain very high number of associational paths. Can't see it matters whether paths are protein or platinum.

[ Parent | on HN ]