Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!mstan!sethb From: sethb@Morgan.COM (Seth Breidbart) Newsgroups: comp.theory Subject: Re: Question on halting problem Keywords: for 10 bonus points... Message-ID: <3132@ylum.Morgan.COM> Date: 29 Apr 91 22:39:09 GMT References: <1991Apr26.135918.8607@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Organization: Morgan Stanley, & Co., Inc. / New York City, NY Lines: 15 In article <1991Apr26.135918.8607@m.cs.uiuc.edu> gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Don Gillies) writes: >We pitiful humans are unable to build turing machines; nobody has ever >constructed a computer that was more than a DFA, and nobody ever will >(since all computers have a fixed amount of memory). A Turing Machine need not start with an infinite amount of memory. If I endow a foundation to add 1 tape square every year, then the memory is eventually large enough, and a Turing Machine results. In fact, if we consider USENET to be a single machine (why not?), and assume it to be constantly growing, then it fits the definition. Seth sethb@fid.morgan.com