On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 03:48:48PM +1000, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
> (c) A random string of binary code is run on a computer. There exists a
> programming language which, when a program is written in this language so
> that it is the same program as in (a) and (b), then compiled, the binary
> code so produced is the same as this random string.
>
> Is this nonsense? Is (c) fundamentally different from (b)? If not, doesn't
> it mean that any random string implements any program? We might not know
> what it says, but if the program is self-aware, then by definition *it*
> knows.
The space of all binary strings is vastly larger than the space of strings
constituting a valid program, and the space of "aware" (AI) programs is again
a tiny subset. It's a pretty sterile (and very rugged) fitness landscape.
The probability of finding a nontrivial program by pure chance is about the
same as a pebble in Gobi hopping through a fluke in Brownian noise.
(More abstract machines can be more forgiving, in regards of what is
well-formed).
--
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
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Received on Mon Jul 11 2005 - 03:00:17 PDT