Noisy Machines


Abstract in English

The abstract notion of a Universal Turing machine cannot exist as a physical subsystem without the introduction of noise from an external energy source. Like all other physical systems, physical Turing machines must convert energy sourced from an external environment into useful work, thus subjecting them to the laws of thermodynamics. Consequently, asymptotic mathematical theorems including those derived by Godel and Turing do not bear any consequence on physical world because they can never be truly realised in physical systems. Rather these theorems highlight the seemingly unbridgeable chasm between Platonic forms (mathematics) and objects (physics).

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