X-Message-Number: 15494 Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 21:40:10 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Re: What Kind of Turing Machines Could People Be? Lee Corbin writes (#15477), and I agree: "I submit that the correct analog is a Turing machine with a finite set of quadruples (including universality) placed upon an infinite tape containing potentially infinitely many patterns to examine, including other TMs to examine and emulate. This TM, like a person, gets to explore an unpredictable universe." In other words, a Turing machine with infinitely inscribed tape. Actually, the "tape" itself could be altered by other "Turing machines" too. The whole process, though, is divisible into discrete events (i.e. is "digital," in a generalized sense) such that it does not particularly matter what happens between the events, so long as the overall pattern is maintained. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15494