
Mechanical Turing Machine in Wood (2015) - breck
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=18a72926ebe78a95&id=18A72926EBE78A95%21108&authkey=%21AFTI0vWfgjiivUQ
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breck
Accompanying video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo8izCKHiF0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo8izCKHiF0)

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52-6F-62
Wow. That is a beautiful machine!

And I hope I'm not going too far off the rails here (its where viewing this
video lead my mind), but this makes me wonder further about what kind of
technology we aren't aware of that was used by more ancient cultures. I mean,
the Antikythera mechanism kind of blew the doors open for me when I learned it
calculated the progression of celestial objects and other astronomical events.

It's possible, no? Probably not with a base of 2, but maybe with some other
base or hybrid? We continually discover and get surprised by the skill of some
ancient engineering (and the stunning core practicality of it at times).

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breck
I agree. Would not be surprised if we unearth more ancient machines like
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism).
I'd bet money Egyptian engineers first developed sophisticated tools (since
lost) before building the Pyramids, for example. I'd also bet money there
existed thinkers thousands of years ago who invented superior maths to our
current maths, and made tools using those maths, but their work wasn't
distributed enough and was lost. The brains of top thinkers back then were
just as capable as the top brains we have today, afaict.

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52-6F-62
About the brain, you're correct AFAIK. Any expert on the subject that I've
read has said (with explanation that I don't have) that we are working with
"outdated hardware" in a way.

The neocortex is a relatively recent evolutionary advantage, but as long as
humans have been humans (in the latest evolutionary stage), we've had the same
stock parts.

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jfries
Wow that is one beautiful machine, and the documentation is beautiful too.
Imagine if software could be this clearly illustrated, where one glance
immediately gives full understanding of the interaction of a dozen parts.

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harperlee
Yet understanding the state of the tape and what it represents gets
increasingly difficult the more abstract you get. Running a non-trivial
programme in a Turing machine is as hard to inspect as disassembling one in a
standard computer. The complexity does not lie on the general computing
platform, but in the interpretation that we derive from its state - and, as
long as the platform is turing complete, by definition, we will end up running
inescrutable programs (because we can!).

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cloop_floop
Ah, so you've encountered jQuery.

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pmarreck
File will no longer download. Please do not use Microsoft Live for this stuff.
Can someone re-host it at a less obnoxious site?

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virgil_disgr4ce
Same here. When I load the page it shows the PDF preview then immediately
replaces it with a view that says "This file doesn't have a preview." Garbage
software.

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jimhefferon
I can't reproduce it in wood but I'd love to be able to 3D print a copy. Very
nice!

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eof
I like to use examples like this to illustrate why classical computers will
never become conscious despite the hype.

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coffeeaddicted
Maybe you can then use slow-motion videos of neurons firing to also illustrate
why humans aren't really conscious despite other claims.

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52-6F-62
This. It seems like the commenter who posted this point lacks some fundamental
knowledge of how the brain operates.

For all he knows, it is conscious. But the time scale and size limit it's
faculties to a degree [to put it mildly] far too removed from the ability of
our senses to perceive.

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jdormit
I will get

