In this paper an abstract, deterministic, discrete kinematic automaton system for expressing machine computation, construction, and self-inspection has been designed. Burks’s conjecture that a machine can by self-inspection obtain its own complete structural description and store the information sufficient to recover this description, within a proper part of itself is confirmed. We also exhibit a machine which though not initially equipped with a structural description of itself, can reproduce itself, thus providing a counterexample to a conjecture of von Neumann and confirming a conjecture of Arbib.
","abstract_html":"<p>In this paper an abstract, deterministic, discrete kinematic automaton system for expressing machine computation, construction, and self-inspection has been designed. Burks’s conjecture that a machine can by self-inspection obtain its own complete structural description and store the information sufficient to recover this description, within a proper part of itself is confirmed. We also exhibit a machine which though not initially equipped with a structural description of itself, can reproduce itself, thus providing a counterexample to a conjecture of von Neumann and confirming a conjecture of Arbib.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Laing, Richard Alan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Howard Pattee","Andrew Barto","Dennis Geller"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1977,"date_issued":"1977-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1977-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:10:16Z","subjects":["Machine theory"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://orb.binghamton.edu/dissertation_and_theses/362","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Howard Pattee","Andrew Barto","Dennis Geller"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Laing, Richard Alan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Machine theory"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://orb.binghamton.edu/dissertation_and_theses/362"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this paper an abstract, deterministic, discrete kinematic automaton system for expressing machine computation, construction, and self-inspection has been designed. Burks’s conjecture that a machine can by self-inspection obtain its own complete structural description and store the information sufficient to recover this description, within a proper part of itself is confirmed. We also exhibit a machine which though not initially equipped with a structural description of itself, can reproduce itself, thus providing a counterexample to a conjecture of von Neumann and confirming a conjecture of Arbib.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Automation self-reference"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Howard Pattee","Andrew Barto","Dennis Geller"],"dc:creator":["Laing, Richard Alan"],"dc:description.abstract":["In this paper an abstract, deterministic, discrete kinematic automaton system for expressing machine computation, construction, and self-inspection has been designed. Burks’s conjecture that a machine can by self-inspection obtain its own complete structural description and store the information sufficient to recover this description, within a proper part of itself is confirmed. We also exhibit a machine which though not initially equipped with a structural description of itself, can reproduce itself, thus providing a counterexample to a conjecture of von Neumann and confirming a conjecture of Arbib.
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