Re: Overflows (lisp fixnum-bignum conversion)

["Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-93" <condicma@PWFL.COM>]

Robert Dewar <dewar@MERV.CS.NYU.EDU> writes:
><<Already IBM scientists (at Boca Raton, is it?) are building prototype '3D'
>computers - which use laser holography within a block of a very special
>material which switches its angle of polarisation very fast at a certain
>precise temperature - which promise to be able to store the equivalent of
>2^64 bytes of information easily (probably a lot more). Such computers
>would certainly have the potential for outsmarting humans by several orders
>of magnitude. This is actually true. Sleep well!!!>
>
>Nick if you really think that simply providing computers with 2**64 bytes
>of information will magically ensure that they can outsmart humans, you
>have been watching too much Startrek. Yes, I know you said potential, but
>still ....
>
    Seems I've heard this sort of claim by the AI croud before - just
    about every time there's a major advancement in the capacity of
    computer memory or processor throughput. And the claim has (so
    far) never materialized. The problem is not memory or throughput,
    but one of algorithm. Nobody has yet demonstrated a "thinking"
    algorithm that just needs more horsepower to make it work. (Of
    course, if we redefine "thinking" to stretch it far enough, we
    could probably demonstrate a box of rocks undertaking the task!)

    "You can lead a computer to data, but you can't make it think."

        --  M. D. Condic

    MDC

Marin David Condic, Senior Computer Engineer    ATT:        561.796.8997
M/S 731-96                                      Technet:    796.8997
Pratt & Whitney, GESP                           Fax:        561.796.4669
P.O. Box 109600                                 Internet:   CONDICMA@PWFL.COM
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