Re: What language will be used to write the first self aware program?

"Joe Marshall" <eval.apply@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

Raffael Cavallaro <raffaelcavallaro@pas-d'espam-s'il-vous-plait-mac.com> writes:
We humans on the other hand can know if we are inside the Matrix ;^).

Pascal Bourguignon wrote:
It's not obvious.

Bill Gosper in HAKMEM notes that we can find out how the Matrix
represents numbers:

ITEM 154 (Gosper):
The myth that any given programming language is machine independent is
easily exploded by computing the sum of powers of 2.
If the result loops with period = 1 with sign +, you are on a
sign-magnitude machine.
If the result loops with period = 1 at -1, you are on a twos-complement
machine.
If the result loops with period > 1, including the beginning, you are
on a ones-complement machine.
If the result loops with period > 1, not including the beginning, your
machine isn't binary -- the pattern should tell you the base.
If you run out of memory, you are on a string or Bignum system.
If arithmetic overflow is a fatal error, some fascist pig with a
read-only mind is trying to enforce machine independence. But the very
ability to trap overflow is machine dependent.
By this strategy, consider the universe, or, more precisely, algebra:
let X = the sum of many powers of two = ...111111
now add X to itself; X + X = ...111110
thus, 2X = X - 1 so X = -1
therefore algebra is run on a machine (the universe) which is
twos-complement.

I agree that programs can detect if they're inside a virtual machine
(given they've got access to a true external real time clock).

But how can beings inside a Matrix detect they're inside a Matrix, from within?

What "physical" process would this sum of powers of 2 match to?



I only see three ways to detect a Matrix from within.

- bugs in the Matrix, like the cat loop,

- communication with the external world (the program having access to
the real time clock)

- somebody from within having access to the program of the Matrix.

(Actually both three are described in The Matrix).


Do we see bugs in the universe?

Perhaps. There is stuff that physicists don't consider.


Do we see repeatable bugs in the universe?

I don't think so. Or at least, the physicists just consider they
just don't have a theory YET for them. They're not bugs, they're features!


Can we communicate with the external world?

Perhaps, but how do we distinguish it from hallucinations? We seem
to be needing an interface with our machines, rather than with our
brains to consider it "real".


By the way, here is a intriguing observation: when you simulate a
world, you need to implement some collision detection. An object
that doesn't move doesn't need a lot of processor cycles to check
whether it'll collide. An object that moves faster will scan a
bigger volume of space, so you'll need more processor cycles to check
whether it'll collide with another object whose scan volume
intersects. Very fast objects could DOS the processor. Now, observe
how the relativity theory compresses the space in the direction of
movement, while at the same time expanding the time of the voyager:
the number processor cycles needed to do collision checking remains
constant whatever the speed, with the trick of implementing relative
time to each object.


Can somebody have access to the programming of our universe?
Do miracles occur? Does magic really work?


--
__Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/
I need a new toy.
Tail of black dog keeps good time.
Pounce! Good dog! Good dog!
.

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