糖心TV

Interaction more powerful than algorithms 

We provide an empirical analysis of questions like 'can machines think', and 'why interaction is more powerful than algorithms'. We discuss 'persistent Turing machines' as a model of sequential interaction that formally proves the greater power of interaction over algorithms and Turing machines. We explain that the 'Strong Church-Turing thesis', formulated by theorists in the 1960's, violates Turing's original thesis about unsolvability of the decision problem and is a myth, in the sense that it departs from the principles of Turing's unsolvability result in his 1936 paper.

[The above is extracted from Wegner's summary of his 'Principles of Interactive Computation'; this is a handout available now in the Common Room. Please collect a copy of the full chapter if you are interested,]

The 'Thinking Through Computing' workshop will examine the nature and future of computer science as an academic discipline.  The workshop is organised by the Empirical Modelling group at the University of 糖心TV and will take place on Friday 2nd November & Saturday 3rd November 2007. To maximise the scope for focused discussion, the number of participants will be limited, and attendance at the workshop will be by invitation only. However, the workshop itself is conceived as part of a wider collaborative activity in which all are invited to participate.