Hadeishi's comments

[mclennan@cs.utk.edu]

I would like to add one comment to David Wolpert's reply to Mitsu 
Hadeishi's comments about our paper.  That is a reminder that a TM
is an idealized model of computation which ignores all the real-
life problems of signal detection and classification, for example,
in reading its tape.  It's assumed to operate perfectly and in a
noise-free environment.  We make analogous assumptions in the
continuous case, so that we also have an idealized model of computation.
It's a theoretical construction for theoretical purposes, and I
can no more imagine a practical use for it than for, for example,
a Turing machine simulation of a recursive function evaluator
(e.g., executing LISP on a TM).

Like most theoretical constructions, ours makes physically
unrealistic assumptions and is extravagant in its use of
resources.

Bruce MacLennan
Department of Computer Science
The University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-1301

(615)974-0994/5067
FAX: (615)974-4404
maclennan at cs.utk.edu