On Fri, Mar 24, 2006 at 07:20:20AM -0800, 1Z wrote:
>
>
> Russell Standish wrote:
> > This is the way I put the argument in my upcoming book. You can also
> > read the Universal Dovetailer Argument in Bruno Marchal's SANE04
> > paper.
> >
> > \item That a description logically capable of observing itself is
> > enough to bootstrap itself into existence. Let me speak to this by
> > means of an example: The C programming language is a popular
> > language for computer applications. To convert a program written in
> > C into machine instructions that can execute on the computer, one
> > uses another program called a compiler. Many C compilers are
> > available, but a popular compiler is the GNU C compiler, or gcc. Gcc
> > is itself a C language program, you can download the program source
> > code from http://www.gnu.org, and compile it yourself, if you
> > already have a working C compiler. Once you have compiled gcc, you
> > can then use gcc to compile itself. Thus gcc has bootstrapped itself
> > onto your computer, and all references to any preexisting compiler
> > forgotten.
>
> No, gcc chasn't bootstrapped **itself** -- it has been bootstrapped by
> another
> compiler ("if you already have a working C compiler"). You can use gcc
> to compile itself only if it has already been compiled. Gcc cannot
> bootstrap
> itself on a computer without a compiler. what you have said serves a
> loose
> illustration of self-bootsrapping, but it is not an actual expample of
> it.
> In fact there are no strict examples of self-bootstrapping -- of
> something starting
> up ex nihilo.
>
> if it is possible for systems to bootstap themselves (or for
> simulations
> to be equivalent to realities) we should be able to observe it, and we
> don't.
> That is equally true even if we assume the observed world is already
> a simulation -- "simulations" (ie second-order
> simulations-within-the-Great-Simulation) don't
> become "real" (ie first-order simulations)
>
The trouble is, I don't really know what you mean. It doesn't matter
what the original compiler is to bootstrap gcc. Therefore a Plenitude
of compilers will surely bootstrap gcc - or more fully gcc is
bootstrapped on all of them.
The problem comes in trying to distinguish reality from simulation. It
just can't be done.
--
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A/Prof Russell Standish Phone 8308 3119 (mobile)
Mathematics 0425 253119 (")
UNSW SYDNEY 2052 R.Standish.domain.name.hidden
Australia http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks
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Received on Tue Mar 28 2006 - 17:07:50 PST