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0 pointsukj6y ago0 comments

Not really. You are still in the paradigm of computation.

Detecting anything is signal processing.

And if I am wrong about this - all the better! It is exactly the right kind of wrongness we need to progress science.

0 comments

Let's say I have a computer that can only store 10 bits worth of information, but generates 100 bits of information. Then obviously the information cannot entirely originate in the computer.

ukjOP6y ago

Sure it can. Compression. Kolmogorov complexity.

I don't need to 'store' the infinite set of natural numbers - that would require infinite space (memory).

But I can describe the infinite set in a single line of Python. Nat = lambda x=0: Nat(x+1)

It's just a space-time tradeoff.

yters6y ago

If the sequence isn't compressible, then you can eliminate that possibility.

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0 pointsukj6y ago0 comments

Not really. You are still in the paradigm of computation.

Detecting anything is signal processing.

And if I am wrong about this - all the better! It is exactly the right kind of wrongness we need to progress science.

0 comments

yters6y ago

Let's say I have a computer that can only store 10 bits worth of information, but generates 100 bits of information. Then obviously the information cannot entirely originate in the computer.

ukjOP6y ago

Sure it can. Compression. Kolmogorov complexity.

I don't need to 'store' the infinite set of natural numbers - that would require infinite space (memory).

But I can describe the infinite set in a single line of Python. Nat = lambda x=0: Nat(x+1)

It's just a space-time tradeoff.

yters6y ago

If the sequence isn't compressible, then you can eliminate that possibility.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse