From: nzook@math.utexas.edu
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 07:32:43 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: GUT and P=NP
Message-ID: <9407191429.AA02051@vendela.ma.utexas.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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(flashing mathematical credentials)

Okay, I was hoping this would die quietly, but sinces it isn't....

GUT is a physical theory.  If true, it is believed, it would be possible to
manufacture a computer which excedes a Turing machine in several important
ways.  In particular, it is believed that a "quantum computer" could perform
certain NP tasks (factoring) in P time.

BUT, as I read it, this has _nothing_ to do with the P/NP question.  It simple
creates a new area of inquiry, the QP/QNP/QNP-complete area.  (The first qu
question being wheather some of these sets are empty.)  The P/NP question is
a question about Turing machines, and as such, would not be affected by the
creation of a non-Turing computer.


As for boundaries...  GUT _might_ give us a single equation that contains all
physical laws.  But so what?  We can't even solve the three-body problem for
gravity!  Chaos is an emergent process.

Have fun.