An update: results and research

I have seen the ICFP, and it is full of funky symbols. Yes, we won a prize; two of the twelve of us headed of to Freiburg-im-Breisgau; and we came second, beaten by Team Smartass of Google. Interestingly, of the four contestants in Freiburg to collect prizes, three were South African (myself and Marco from the United Coding Team, as well as Daniel Wright of Team Smartass).

A few months ago I posted an translation of Wolfram's (2, 3) Turing Machine into Fuun DNA. What I called "an open problem of Wolfram" is now closed. Today Wolfram announced that this machine has been proven universal by Alex Smith. Since there is known to be no (2, 2) UTM, Wolfram and Smith's machine is the smallest Universal Turing Machine.

Somewhat related to Wolfram and Smith, but *very* related to programmable Fuun DNA: programmable terrestial DNA — Programmed Mutagenesis Is a Universal Model of Computation by Khodor and Gifford. Perhaps Endo isn't as alien as we thought?

On an open problem of Wolfram

I have something to admit. Something rather shameful. I never learnt Fuun during the contest. After all, I was a late arrival to a team with a man we call Bruce Almighty, after whom the Bruce-First Search is named. Although I had a vague understanding of the low-level details, my contributions were mostly at a higher level.

So I'm only really learning the details now, as I don my tin-foil hat and prepare for a Fuun-filled future. When I saw Jochen's ingenious 55-character junk generator, I had only an inkling of how it worked until I whipped out my spec booklet and a pencil. Jochen's string shows just how incredibly rich Fuun DNA is. And also that Jochen is a brilliant DNA hacker.

I will now, finally, progress to my point. Last week, I left you with an SHA-1 "essence" of a result. In truth, it is more of a question than a result. It is suspected by some that the following DNA sequence has a truly awe-inspiring property: that the genetic program of any being can be emulated by this sequence of Fuun genes. Is this the case? A cash prize is offered for a proof of the affirmative.

IIPIFFCFPPPIICIIPIFFCFPPFIICIIPIFFCFPPPIICIICIFPIC
PIFPCPIFPICPIICICFFFICFCIPFICFCCCCICFCPICFCFICFFII
CFFCIIPIFFCFPFCIICICPCFPFFFPCFPFICCFPFPCFPPCIICIFP
PICPCFPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPCFPPCFCCFPFICIICIIPIFFCFPFCI
ICICPCFPFFFPCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCFPFICIICIIPIFFCFPPCI
ICIICIFPPICPCFPFFIFPCPCFPFPIFPICPFCCFPFICIICIIPIFF
CFPFCIICICPCFPFFFCCFPFICCFPFPCFPPCIICIFPPICPCFPFFF
FCFPFICCFPFPCFPPCFPCFPFICIICIIPIFFCFPFCIICICPCFPFF
FCCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCFPFICIICIIPIFFCFPPCIICIICIFPPI
CPCFPFFIFPCPCFPFPIFPICPFPCFPFICIICIIPIFFCFPFCIICIC
PCFPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCFPPCIICCFPPFIICIFPPICICC
FPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPFCCFPFICIFPCPCFPPFIICIIPIFFCFPFCI
ICICPCFPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCFPPCIICIIPIFFCFPFICI
ICIICIFPPICICCFPFFIFPICPCFPFPFCCFPFICIFPCPIICIIPIF
FCFPFCIICICICCFPFFFPCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCFPPCIICCFPPF
IICIFPPICPCFPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPFFCFPFICIFPCPCFPPFIICI
IPIFFCFPFCIICICICCFPFFFPCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCFPPCIICI
IPIFFCFPFICIICIICIFPPICPCFPFFIFPICPCFPFPFFCFPFICIF
PCPIICIIPIFFCFPFCIICICICCFPFFFCCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCF
PPCIICCFPPFIICIFPPICICCFPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPFPCFPFICIF
PCPCFPPFIICIIPIFFCFPFCIICICICCFPFFFCCFPFICCFPFPIIP
IFFCFPPCIICIIPIFFCFPFICIICIICIFPPICICCFPFFIFPICPCF
PFPFPCFPFICIFPCPIICIIPIFFCFPFCIICICICCFPFFFFCFPFIC
CFPFPCFPPCIICIFPPICPCFPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPCFPPCFPCFPFI
CIICIIPIFFCFPFCIICICICCFPFFFFCFPFICCFPFPIIPIFFCFPF
ICIICIIPIFFCFPPCIICIICIFPPICPCFPFFIFPCPCFPFPIFPICP
FPCFPFICIICIIPIFFCFPPPIICIIPIFFCFPPFIICIIPIFFCFPPP
IICIICIFPICPIFPCPIFPICPIICICFFF