2nd 8 Week N&M Class: HPSC X227 What Computers Cannot Do

I'd like to interest you (and your students) in a 8w2 course I am teaching this term, that starts on Oct 22nd, and deals with what computers cannot do. The course is a gentle introduction to the logical and physical limits of computers. We discuss how these limits, as well as the notion of what it is to compute, were conceived within mathematical logic and slowly migrated into physics. The course is self contained (only high school math is required), carries CASE N&M distribution, and involves active group learning. It usually enrolls 30-40 students. This year is the course's 5th edition.

I hope some of your students will find it interesting. I enclose details and a syllabus here

HPSC X227 (section 29534)
Computers LTD. What they cannot do
Meets TTR 5:45-7:45 PM @ BH344

Many thanks in advance

Amit

Amit Hagar
HPS Department
College of Arts and Science
Indiana University, Bloomington
http://mypage.iu.edu/~hagara/
hagara@indiana.edu

Course Description

In 1984, the TIME magazine ran a cover story on computer software. In the

otherwise excellent article, an editor of a certain software magazine was quoted

as saying:

Put the right kind of software into a computer, and it will do whatever you want it to.

There may be limits on what you can do with machines themselves, but there are no

limits on what you can do with software

.

A simple way of summarizing this course is that it is devoted to describing and

explaining the facts that refute – no, shutter! – this claim.

In the 5 modules that comprise this course we will acquaint ourselves with

the logical limits of computation, as they were conceived within the framework of

the foundations of mathematics. We will get to know the standard model for

computation, the Turing machine, and learn about problems that it can and

cannot solve. Turning to physics, we will find parallel definitions for

computability in dynamical systems and in spacetime theories, and use notions

from complexity theory to reframe long-standing problems in the philosophy of

mind about free will, creativity, and the mind-body problem.

Each module will be composed of frontal lectures, 2-3 writing

assignments, and a group project that will be presented in class. Typically, these

projects will consist of a digital presentation and an exposition of one of the

concepts that will be discussed in the respective module, with an emphasis on its

use and mention (or, as usually is the case, abuse and misinterpretation) inside

academia and outside it in the popular culture. The course is self-contained and

presupposes a mathematical background at the high-school level.