Robots again

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Mon Mar 16 13:41:12 1998

On Mon, 16 Mar 1998, Lawrence Wilkinson wrote:

> But now you've got me trying to think of something that an analog(ue)
> computer can do that a digital one can't. Reversibility might be one
> thing. I guess it's reasonable to argue that digital computers are a
> subset of analogue computers, as transistors are analogue.

To be fair, analog computers can do things digital computers can't. For
example, a digital computer can only approximate 1.0/3.0 whereas an
analog box has no trouble with this. Certain ops would also be much
faster with analog vs. digital, but I'd have to guess that these are
implementation issues that get lost in the noise.

It's understandable that Turing (or anybody else) would have to say "and
then a miracle happens" in any discussion of machine intelligence.
Emulation of human intelligence is so very far off -- we're simply not
smart enough to create it from scratch. If we ever get to the point where
we can emulate, say, bee or ant intelligence/behavior pretty well in my
lifetime, I'd be absolutely astounded -- there's still *that* much to do.

-- Doug
Received on Mon Mar 16 1998 - 13:41:12 GMT