XPost: comp.theory, sci.logic, sci.math   
   From: polcott333@gmail.com   
      
   On 1/13/2026 12:23 PM, Tristan Wibberley wrote:   
   > On 13/01/2026 14:34, olcott wrote:   
   >> On 1/13/2026 8:23 AM, Tristan Wibberley wrote:   
   >>> On 13/01/2026 09:11, Mikko wrote:   
   >>>> An oracle machine may be   
   >>>> able to determine the haltinf of all Turing machines but not of all   
   >>>> oracle machines with the same oracle (or oracles) so it is not   
   >>>> universal.   
   >>>   
   >>> What's the formal definition of "an oracle machine" ?   
   >>>   
   >>> I would have thought an oracle always halts because it's an oracle it   
   >>> answers every question that has an answer with either "HasAnswer answer"   
   >>> or "HasNoAnswer".   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> It seems outside of computer science and into fantasy.   
   >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_machine   
   >>   
   >   
   > Perhaps a halting oracle is real computer science, if it's own actions   
   > are nondeterministic (ie, use bits of entropy from the environment via   
   > /dev/random to guide its search through confluent paths) then it could   
   > always find whether a deterministic program halts because no   
   > deterministic program has the oracle as a subprogram.   
   >   
   > Then we have a new but different problem of making sure no two oracles   
   > receive the same sequence of entropy bits so an oracle can report on a   
   > program that contains it.   
   >   
      
   Definition: An abstract machine with access to an "oracle"—a black box   
   that provides immediate answers to complex, even undecidable, problems   
   (like the Halting Problem). AKA a majick genie.   
      
   --   
   Copyright 2026 Olcott

   
      
   My 28 year goal has been to make 
   
   "true on the basis of meaning expressed in language"
   
   reliably computable.

   
      
   This required establishing a new foundation
   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)