Darwin Among the Machines (59 page)

Read Darwin Among the Machines Online

Authors: George B. Dyson

Erasmus Darwin, on origin of,
18–19
,
21

origins and extinction of, in technology,
31
,
122

Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine
(Good),
72
,
170–71

Sperry-Rand,
69
,
91

spreadsheets,
11
,
86
,
214

Sputnik I and II,
146

Stapledon, William Olaf (1886–1950),
35–36
,
193–201
,
203–204
,
209–210
,
215
,
217–18
,
220

and Agnes Miller,
193
,
198

on collective intelligence and composite mind,
193
,
199–201
,
203–204
,
209–210
,
217–18

on God, mind, and universe,
35–36
,
197
,
199
,
209–210
,
215
,
217–18

and Leo Myers,
201

and Lewis Richardson,
195–98

on mind and electrons,
198

on radiotelepathy,
193
,
199–201
,
203–204

and World War I,
193
-96,
220

Star Maker
(Stapledon),
199
,
209–210

Statistics of Deadly Quarrels
(Richardson),
87

steam engines,
22
,
31
,
33
,
37
,
119
,
134

stored-program computers.
see also
programming
;
Turing machine

and Babbage,
41–42

and Colossus,
67

and delay-line storage,
133

and EDVAC,
90

and ENIAC,
81

at Manchester,
67
,
104

and Turing,
68–69
,
88

Strategic Missiles Evaluation Committee,
144

Strauss, Lewis,
91

subroutines (computational),
18
,
68
,
121
,
123

miracles as,
41

protein molecules as,
118

Sunbeam Lamp Company,
198

Sussex, University of,
215

Swade, Doron,
41

switching,
8
,
9
,
89
,
109
.
see also
packet switching

and Boolean algebra,
44

and coding,
8
,
57
,
89

and telegraphy,
142

symbiogenesis,
111–25
,
128–30
,
190

as adjunct to Darwinism,
112
,
190

and complexity,
112
,
117
,
190

and evolution of evolution,
128
,
130

and origins of life,
111–13
,
117
,
129

and parallel processing of genetic code,
115

and proliferation of software,
121–24

symbioorganisms.
See
symbiogenesis

symbiosis,
10
,
12
,
112
,
170
,
201
.
see also
origins of life
;
parasitism
;
symbiogenesis

between computers and networks,
177

digital,
114
,
121–22
,
172

and evolution of mind,
223–24

and languages,
120
,
122

with machines,
10
,
12
,
121
,
172
,
179
,
224
,
226–27

and origins of order,
112
,
170

between physics and metaphysics,
227

between sequence and structure,
224

symbolic logic,
7
,
36–37
,
43
,
49
.
see also
formal systems

symbols.
see also
code and coding
;
formal systems
;
languages
;
symbolic logic

and evolution of meaning,
156
,
158–59
,
181
,
225

and telegraphy 133,
137–39
,
143

and Turing machine,
9–10
,
55–57
,
216

synchronization, in telecommunications,
133

System Development Corporation (SDC),
178–83

System Simulation Research Laboratory,
181
,
183

Systems.
See
autocatalytic systems
;
nervous systems
;
self-organizing systems

“Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals” (Turing),
72

Szilard, Leo (1898–1964),
77

T

Tabulating Machine Company,
60

Tac-Tix (board game),
118
,
121

tallies, Exchequer,
162–64
,
165

tape, punched paper.
See
punched paper tape

taxpayers, and artificial intelligence,
157

Taylor, F. W.,
182

Technology.
see also
artificial life
;
artificial intelligence
;
digital computers
;
evolution
;
machines

as a cathedral,
152

coevolution of, with mind,
x
,
203
,
211

convergence with biology, via code,
13
,
174

and nature,
ix
,
13
,
228

and non-Darwinian evolution,
31
,
187

origins of,
129
,
202–203
,
211

as Ouroboros and Leviathan brought to life,
227

scale of,
7–8
,
173–75
,
186

telecommunications.
see also
bandwidth
;
code and coding
;
collective intelligence
;
cryptography and cryptanalysis
;
networks
;
packet-switching
;
telegraphy
;
telepathy
;
telephone system
;
television

and Babbage,
42
,
81

and banking,
62
,
165–67
,
170

convergence with computing,
11–12
,
144
,
148–52

fiber optic,
7
,
8–9
,
203

and Hooke,
133
,
137–38

and human-machine symbiosis,
10

hybrid fiber-coaxial,
207

and machine-machine symbiosis,
32
,
34

microwave,
148
,
152
,
208

optical,
131–34
,
137–38
,
166

and origins of digital computers,
65
,
67
,
104
,
143–44

proliferation of,
8–9
,
13
,
133
,
138–39
,
142
,
152
,
167
,
205–209

protocols,
12
,
122
,
133
,
137
,
139
,
143–44
,
205

and Wilkins,
132–33
,
166

wireless,
205–208

Telecommunications Research Establishment (U.K.),
65
,
104
,
144

Telegraphy.
see also
code and coding
;
Morse code
;
multiplexing
;
networks
;
punched paper tape

and Ampère,
6
,
141

electrical,
32–33
,
42
,
48
,
138
,
139–44

in New Zealand (1862),
32–33

optical,
137–39

and origins of digital computers,
143–44

and origins of packet switching,
143
,
148

proliferation of,
142

torch,
132–33

Teleological Society,
101

teleology,
101
,
183

telepathy,
199–202
,
203
,
208
,
226

telephone, Smee's premonition of,
48

telephone system.
see also
AT&T

analogy with neural network,
89
,
182
,
200

centralized switching of,
149

and digital communication,
180

telescope, and telecommunications,
133
,
137
,
142

teleprinter.
See
punched paper tape

television,
86
,
159

bandwidth of,
204
,
207

cable,
207

Smee's premonition of,
48

Teller, Edward,
77
,
78
,
82

templates, in digital and molecular evolution,
125
,
128
,
202

Temple of Nature
(Erasmus Darwin),
20

temporal smoothing, in neural networks,
169

Thearling, Kurt,
126

theology,
18
,
116
.
see also
argument from design

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
(von Neumann),
77
,
153

Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata
(von Neumann),
77
,
109
,
175

theory of two plasms,
112

“There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom” (Feynman),
173

Theseus (Shannon's mechanical mouse),
150

Thinking Machines, Inc.,
126

Thomas, Lewis (1913–1993),
191–92
,
209

Thompson, Gerald,
167

Thomson, Joseph John (1856–1940),
198
,
201

Thoreau, Henry David (1817–1862),
228

Tierra (digital environment),
xii
,
125–28

time

and computability,
40
,
42
,
43
,
55–57
,
72
,
169

and discrete-state machines,
56

and memory,
8
,
32
,
136
,
166
,
169
,
216

and mind,
136
,
211
,
213
,
216–19
,
224–25

and place, grand annihilation of,
33

time-sharing (computing),
144
,
180

tools, stone,
x
,
202–203

topology (and topologists),
43
,
54
,
126
,
130
,
155
,
191
,
205
,
208
,
225

Toscanini, Arturo (1867–1957),
222

Tractatus Opticus
(Hobbes),
160

transistors, proliferation of,
8
,
192
,
203
.
see also
integrated circuits
;
microprocessors

translation, between sequence and structure,
27
,
72
,
117–19
,
128
,
216–17
,
225

trial and error,
31
,
63
,
64
,
71
,
115–16
,
176

Trinity College, Cambridge,
132

Troy, fall of,
131–32

truth, mathematical,
39
,
42
,
49–50
,
53–54
,
56
,
167–68
,
228

truth, hunted down versus intuition of,
160

Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin (1857–1935),
146

Tukey, John W.,
61
,
99

turbulence,
84–85
,
86
,
110

Turing, Alan M. (1912–1954),
9
,
40
,
53–58
,
59
,
61
,
63–72
,
75
,
88–89
,
104–105
,
108
,
129–30
,
139
,
143
,
175
,
204
,
216–17
.
see also
“On Computable Numbers”
;
Turing machine

and artificial intelligence,
53
,
70–73
,
108
,
117
,
216–17

his Automatic Computing Engine (ACE),
67–69

on “being digital,” 69

and computability,
53–58

on consciousness,
204

and cryptanalysis, at Bletchley Park,
9–10
,
63–67
,
75

and digital coding,
139
,
143

and
Entscheidungsproblem
,
54–55
,
57

on intelligence and evolution,
71
,
130

at Manchester,
69–70
,
104–105
,
204

at Princeton,
58
,
72

and proof of an open digital universe,
130

his (1938) electric multiplier,
58

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