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Letter: Letters : Taming turbulence

Published 5 July 1997

From Mark Hennessy-Barrett

by e-mail

John Casti hypothesises that a truly non-Turing machine might depend on
physical principles which we currently find uncomputable and unpredictable
(“Computing the uncomputable”, 17 May, p 30).

To the best of my knowledge, the principle that fits this bill best isn’t so
much quantum theory as that of fluid turbulence— the proper algorithmic
modelling of which has so far eluded physicists and the heftiest supercomputers
on the planet.

Issue no. 2089 published 5 July 1997

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