6 Dec
2011
6 Dec
'11
5:07 p.m.
Andy Latto: ... Except that it would have to exclude those configurations that woulddestroy the computer ... That's not right. The Turing machine part of the Life array must be isolated from the Life pattern array being represented. That is, the Turing machine tape is separate from the Turing machine CPU. If the Life implementation of the Turing machine does secure its CPU and firmware from corruption by the data being processed, than you don't have a proper Turing machine. I trust that the proof of the universality of Life that the Life hackers provided decades ago meets this requirement. -- Gene