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by 6nf 709 days ago
> 5 states and 2 symbols is just so few with which to try to encode undecidable behavior.

Would you be brave enough to say the same thing about BB(6) or BB(7)?

1 comments

Yeah, that would definitely surprise me.
Would you consider the Collatz conjecture as potentially undecidable?

Because that one needs to be solved for BB(6) already: https://wiki.bbchallenge.org/wiki/Antihydra

Considering how we made basically no real progress on it mathematically in a whole generation, solving BB(6) within the next decades would be a miracle, and I would bet a lot against it.

I can't see us EVER getting to BB(10), no matter how advanced humanity grows (and it would be meaninglessly large anyway).

I think 765 is just a huge overestimation based on the fact that it is somewhat straightforward to construct.

First off, it's not Collatz, it's a Collatz-like problem.

But yes, I'd be very surprised if Collatz were actually undecideable, even if it's well beyond the reach of current mathematics.

I agree with your statements about BB(10) and BB(6), but they just aren't very relevant. I agree those involve extremely difficult problems likely well beyond the reach of current mathematics, but I'd still be very surprised to find anything undecideable in there. There's a big difference between being truly undecideable and merely well beyond the reach of current mathematics!

(Also, the current record for undecideability is 745, or 765.)