UCSB Freshman Seminar “What is computing?”, Fall 2016

Some questions posted by the class after Lecture 7, November 8, 2016

• Does biological computing stem from the idea that all of our responses to the environment are effects of causes registered in our bodies, thus making us living, subjective kinds of turing machines?
• How do we know if a biological structure constitutes a computer?
• How can we teach a machine to identify an animal in a picture?
• What are the differences between the Von Neumann Architecture and Harvard Architecture?
• Is it possible that the soon-to-be-built bio-engineering building and the subsequent study of bio-engineering will be able to create biological computers out of biological components? Is that even a field that the new building will be grounds to? Also, does it make sense that Windows and other OSes are more "complex" than each of us are?
• Could there ever be a computer with such powerful electric signals that could succeed human intelligence?
• Is it even possible to create something like a brain?
• Can the concept of consciousness/consciousness itself be programmed? How would we go about doing that?
• In what ways synthesize a biological and mechanical computer? Would prosthetics count in this category?
• If we knew more about the brain would it be directly translated to a computer model?
• Why is the human brain a computer but other animal brains are not? What about bacteria with no brains? Is it because we are the only mammals known to have a conscience?
•  Are humans the biological computers that share the most similarities with computers? 
• Is "plastic circuitry" possible, to put into computers? If we were to assemble a network of these plastic circuits, placing a circuit as a neuron one at a time to replicate an existing human brain, would it recreate that person's mind?

UCSB Freshman Seminar “What is computing?”, Fall 2016

Some questions posted by the class after Lecture 6, November 1, 2016

• How do people figure out how to make computers more efficient? 
• How far can artificial intelligence integrate into human society? What exactly are supercomputers?
• How can we know whether a problem is solvable or not? Won't there be problems that actually can be solved but just no one has thought about a solution?
• If there are fundamental limitations, what is computing defined as exactly?
• I found that the Traveling Salesman Problem seems very similar to the subject of minimum spanning trees.What differentiates the two such that MSTs are more “compatible” with computing?
• Which jobs are becoming extinct because of computers?
• What’s a real life example of Moore’s Law?
• What are the differences between technological and physical limitations? 
• What amount of time makes a program not impossible but unfeasible? Are there other hardware limitations which do not have to do with time?
• In general cases, is it impossible to write a program to prove or disprove claims about an infinite set? Does this suggests computer lack the capacity of abstraction?
• With the development of artificial intelligence, which has the ability to learn, would computers be able to perform the jobs doctors do eventually?
• Is every living being technically a biological computer?
• What can we define as a biological computer?
• Is there a law/rule that you can use that will determine if a particular problem can be solved through computing?
• What is a proposed alternative to the turing machine?

UCSB Freshman Seminar “What is computing?”, Fall 2016

Some questions posted by the class after Lecture 5, October 25, 2016

• If memory in a computer was not finite (i.e not a fixed number) would any of these problems remain unsolvable?
• In the traveling salesman example, could that problem actually not be solved, or is it just an example?
• I was left wondering if our knowledge of the limitations of computing could be altered by new discoveries in physics.
• Does the fact that Turing machine is unable to solve first type of questions imply that human's thinking process is more complicated and more capable than a Turing machine? (Because human can prove math theorem)
• Is the Traveling Salesman Problem a physical/technological limitation, given that it deals with speed, time, and efficiency? If not, why?
• Is there a limit to processing speed in computers--if any?
• What do you mean by unsolvable problems in computing and do you think these problems could eventually be solved with the future advancements in technology?  
• To what extent in the medical field is it possible for computers to replace doctors? Some people say that computers can replace doctors completely, for diagnosis, prognosis and for surgical reasons. What would happen if computers replaced doctors?
• What are some other common examples of problems computers can not be programmed to do?
• Are there more limits to computers and computing? Is there a way to speed up the amount of time it takes for a computer to run through problems?
• How can software and hardware limit the efficiency of a computer?
• How can the computers today be improved to be more efficient and run faster?
• Are these limitations because of computers or computing as a concept?
• As our processors speed up, and things can be computed faster, will the scaling problem become less and less - if still always slightly - relevant?
• I am curious about the theoretical implications of being able to build a computer with planck length signal transfer distances. In what most fundamental ways do the computational limits of a quantum computer differ from that of a 'classical' computer?
• What are some other decision problems which computer programs can't solve?