How Dr. Seuss would prove the halting problem undecidable (2008) | Hacker News Reader

How Dr. Seuss would prove the halting problem undecidable (2008)

ebiquity.umbc.edu

99 pointsamelius8 comments

Straight from the author's website: http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/loopsnoop.html

These drafts are very different; I am not sure which I prefer :(.

I prefer the version you linked to, as it has taken trominos criticism into account https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1323111

Only your linked version is correct.

Discussed long ago at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1321899 and not so long ago at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10077471.

How Hackernews would prove the halting problem:

https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=10792240&goto=item%3Fi...

As a side note, the good doctor predicted the ascent of the surveillance state:

   "On a mountain halfway between Reno and Rome
   We have a machine in a plexiglass dome
   Which listens and looks into everyone’s home
   And whenever it sees a new sleeper go flop,
   It jiggles and lets a new Biggle-Ball drop.
   Our chap count these balls as they plup in a cup.
   And that’s how we know who is down and who’s up"

How I explained it to a shepherd: http://www.everything2.com/title/halting+dog+problem

Now if we could only get this for the abc conjecture.

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