Questions for Friday Ocober 3

I don't expect everyone to be able to answer all these questions, but let's
look at them this Friday.  You don't need to write anything up yet.

1.Do you know of any other fundamental idea in computer design that is
usually credited (incorrectly) to von Neumann? If you do know of it, how
does it differ from the design of cellular automata?

2. What is the von Neumann bottleneck, and do you think cellular automata
suffer from it?

3. Describe the two kinds of self-reproducing automata that von Neumann
proposed.

4. What are some objections to von Neumann's first self-reproducing machine
(the kinematic model)?

5. How were these problems resolved by the second self-reproducing machine
(the cellular automaton)?

6. Could a kinematic self-reproducing automaton be built now, using
present day technology, perhaps nanotechnology?

7. The chapter briefly describes two self-reproducing systems: Jacobsen's
trains and Penrose's blocks. Is von Neumann's self-reproducing
cellular automaton a more convincing example of artificial self-reproduction,
or is it, at some level, essentially the same idea?

8. For those of you who have had automata theory:  could von Neumann's
cellular automaton be simulated by a Turing machine?
(You can use several tapes if needed, including some 2 dimensional tapes.)

For those of you who have not had automata:  could you write a computer
program that imitates the behavior of von Neumann's cellular automaton?
(Just describe the major data structures and how they are used.)

9. Regardless of your answer to question 8., why might a cellular automaton
be a better model of a living system than a Turing machine?

10. Give a high-level description of von Neumann's self-reproducing cellular
automaton, in terms of its major parts and functions.

11. What are some major deficiencies in the cellular automaton, as far as
modelling the behavior of living organisms?