[FRIAM] A question for tomorrow

[Frank Wimberly]

On the way to Friam I said to Nick.  Turing Machines don't know anything.
They may store representations of knowledge.  I further said that a
photograph also represents knowledge.  For example, the number of floors of
a given building.  Most people would be puzzled by the question, "What does
a photo know?"

There were multiple parallel conversations after we arrived.  I don't
recall additional discussions about what Turing Machines know.

-----------------------------------
Frank Wimberly

My memoir:
https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

My scientific publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone (505) 670-9918

On Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 8:06 PM Russ Abbott <russ.abbott at gmail.com> wrote:

> Nick, I can't believe you are asking such a question -- unless by "know"
> you mean something very different from the common understanding. No
> computer *knows* anything, although it may have lots of stored
> information. (*Information *is meant in the Shannon sense.)
>
> For example, Oxford defines
> <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/knowledge> knowledge as "Facts,
> information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the
> theoretical or practical understanding of a subject." This is distinct
> from, for example, having access to an encyclopedia--or even having memorized
> the contents of one. Turing machines, and computers in general, do not have
> an *understanding *of anything--even though they may have lots of
> Shannon-style information (which *we *understand as) related to some
> subject.
>
> (Like Glen, though, I am interested in the results, if any, of this
> morning's meeting.)
>
> -- Russ Abbott
> Professor, Computer Science
> California State University, Los Angeles
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 2:38 PM uǝlƃ ☣ <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> What was the result of this morning's conversation?
>>
>> On 4/25/19 10:50 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
>> > What does a Turing Machine know?
>>
>>
>> --
>> ☣ uǝlƃ
>>
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