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    The theory of Turing machines is the most general theory ... — Carmelics
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    The theory of Turing machines is the most general theory of computation possible.

    No other argument is betterTruth & Knowledge
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The theory of Turing machines is based on a very limited set of assumptions about what computing is.
      ?

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    • 2.Turing machines are universal, which points to their generality.
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    • 3.It is difficult to conceive in what sense a more powerful system could be 'more' universal than a universal system.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Hypercomputation models (e.g., Accelerating Turing Machines, oracle machines) can compute functions that classical Turing machines provably cannot.
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    • 2.Turing's own formalization in 1936 was grounded in human cognitive limitations, not in the intrinsic limits of physical or abstract computation.
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    • 3.A theory bounded by human cognitive assumptions cannot claim maximal generality without begging the question against physically realizable super-Turing processes.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Analog computation models, as defended by Pour-El and Richards, can compute real-valued functions over continuous domains that are Turing-uncomputable.
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    • 2.If physically instantiated analog processes exceed Turing-machine expressibility, then 'most general' must be relativized to discrete symbol manipulation, not computation as such.
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    Topics

    Truth & KnowledgeNo other argument is better

    Connections

    3 topics

    Modality & Possibility2 linkedPhilosophy of Language1 linkedSkepticism1 linked

    Related

    A theory bounded by human cognitive assumptions cannot claim maximal generality ...Analog computation models, as defended by Pour-El and Richards, can compute real...Hypercomputation models (e.g., Accelerating Turing Machines, oracle machines) ca...If physically instantiated analog processes exceed Turing-machine expressibility...
    +4 moreShow less
    It is difficult to conceive in what sense a more powerful system could be 'more'...The theory of Turing machines is based on a very limited set of assumptions abou...

    Similar

    The theory of Turing machines is based on a very limited set of assump...88%Any computation can, in principle, be modeled on Turing machines.81%Turing machines were defined to study the notion of computation and th...80%Members of the first machine class are reasonable models of computatio...80%

    Source

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    Arguments in favor of the thesis: The theory of Turing machines seems to be the most general theory possible that we can formulate since it is based on a very limited set of assumptions about what computing is. The fact that it is universal also points in the direction of its generality. It is difficult to conceive in what sense a more powerful system could be “more” universal. Even if we could think of such a more powerful system, the in- and output for such a system would have to be finite and
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Turing machines are universal, which points to their generality.
    Turing's own formalization in 1936 was grounded in human cognitive limitations, ...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit