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On The Turing Completeness of PowerPoint (SIGBOVIK)

Tom Wildenhain8 HN recommenders · recommended in 6 months, 2017–2025
YouTube
talk · general · evergreen · 2017–2025 on HN

A short SIGBOVIK 2017 presentation by Tom Wildenhain showing that PowerPoint animations are Turing complete, with a working Turing machine built in slides. The talk is delivered deadpan as a serious research result.

HN repeatedly names it as one of the funniest and best talks, a favorite example of absurd computation.

12 comments from Hacker News

@K0SM0S2020-01 · in “The “No Code” Delusion”

I think this drives your point with incredible wit: “On The Turing Completeness of PowerPoint (SIGBOVIK)” by Tom Wildenhain[1]. (5 minutes video) [1]: ▶ this video (Nerding out should always be hilarious like that!) [2]: Recording of a guest lecture he gave for the Esoteric Programming Languages course at CMU. (~1h) link

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@stanlarroque2018-02 · in “Age of Empires 2 Scenario Editor Is Turing Complete”

I can only think of one of the greatest videos[0] on Youtube when I read about unusual Turing complete systems. [0] ▶ this video

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@aeleos2018-01 · in “HDR Photography in Microsoft Excel (2017) [video]”

This is very similar in style to my favorite presentation and paper of all time, titled On The Turing Completeness of PowerPoint [0]. The research, presentation and paper were all created inside of powerpoint and it is probably the greatest thing ever made. If you enjoyed the above video you will definitely enjoy this. [0] ▶ this video

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@alpaca1282020-12 · in “Ask HN: Best Talks of 2020?”

If you liked the Game of Life running a Game of Life simulation you might enjoy the YT video[0] showing someone's functioning raycasting engine within the game world of Factorio using thousands of machines and parts provided by the game. It blew my mind. What I also found quite amusing was the PowerPoint presentation demonstrating the Turing-completeness of PowerPoint animations[1]. I'll never get tired of this kind of tinkering walking the line between genius and a healthy portion of crazy. [0] link [1] ▶ this video

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@bschne2019-06 · in “3D engine on MS Excel without VBA (2018) [video]”

For another completely insane but kind of fun way to abuse an office application, see "On The Turing Completeness of PowerPoint" [1]. (Gwern has a whole list of accidentally/surprisingly turing-complete things at [2]) 1. ▶ this video 2. link

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