Darwin Among the Machines (55 page)

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Authors: George B. Dyson

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extraterrestrial,
199–200
,
204
,
210
,
224

mechanical,
70
,
211

mystery of,
73
,
213

of nature,
13
,
18
,
35
,
186–87
,
227
,
228

origins and evolution of,
75
,
82
,
177
,
179
,
188
,
214
,
222–24

and patience,
55

species-level,
18
,
115–16
,
186–88

“Intelligence as an Emergent Behavior; or, the Songs of Eden” (Hillis),
222–24

International Congress of Mathematicians,
53

International Telecommunications Union,
167

Internet,
10–12
,
123
,
168
,
208
,
215
,
225

as habitat for digital organisms,
123
,
126–28
,
170

prehistory of, at RAND,
146–52

intuition,
11
,
50
,
72
,
160

J

Jacquard, Joseph-Marie (1752–1834),
40

Jacquard loom,
40
,
59
,
60
,
77

jargon, religious,
3

Java (programming language),
123
,
128

Jenkinson, Hilary, on tallies,
162–63

Jevons, William Stanley (1835–1882),
59
,
171

JOHNNIAC (RAND),
97
,
104
,
148

Jones, Henry Festing (1851–1928),
16–17
,
18
,
27

junk, as evolutionary reserve,
215

Jurassic Park (scenario),
127

K

kayak, as architectural metaphor,
214

Keck, Donald, on optical fiber,
8

Keir, James,
21

Kennan, George F.,
94

King-Hele, Desmond,
23

Kleene, Stephen, and general recursiveness,
57

knowledge,
187
,
189

Ampère's classification of,
6
,
161–62

evolution of,
159
,
183–84

H. G. Wells on the globalization of,
10–11

and intuition,
50

and wisdom,
159

Kozo-Polyansky, Boris M. (1890–1957),
111–13

Krause, Ernst,
23

L

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste (1744–1829),
17
,
20
,
23
,
27
,
30

Lamarckian evolution,
20
,
29–31
,
113

Language and languages.
see also
formal systems
;
operating systems
;
codes and coding

in biology,
123–24
,
128–29
,
190
,
225

of the brain,
44–45
,
156
,
168–69
,
225

convergence of,
8
,
13
,
129

and culture,
211
,
217

evolution of,
120
,
128
,
156
,
160
,
190
,
224–26

extinction of,
120
,
122
,
224

genetic,
27
,
119
,
124
,
128–29
,
190

hierarchies of,
8
,
118–19
,
121
,
156
,
160
,
214

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language),
225

Java,
123
,
128

natural 211,
218
,
225

object-oriented,
123
,
189

origins of,
71
,
82
,
129
,
225

programming,
114
,
122
,
123

statistical 44–45,
156
,
168–69
,
225

as symbionts,
120
,
122
,
172
,
225

translation, mind-machine,
214
,
218
,
224–26

universal, frequency-coded,
225–26

Laplace, Pierre Simon (1749–1827),
141

Last and first Men
(Stapledon),
198–201
,
217

last centimeter problem (telecommunications),
208

last mile problem (telecommunications),
206

law of requisite variety (Ashby),
176–77
,
184

Laws of Thought
(Boole),
41
,
43–45
,
49

learning.
see also
knowledge
;
meaning
;
self-organizing systems
;
wisdom

and entropy,
170

in packet-switching networks,
151

Turing on,
70–71

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von (1646–1716),
9
,
35–38

and artificial intelligence,
50
,
73

and Babbage,
39
,
43

and binary arithmetic,
37
,
89

his binary computing machine,
7
,
37
,
103

on the brain,
45

his decimal calculating machine,
36–37
,
81
,
135

and digital coding,
9
,
143

and formal systems,
7
,
9
,
36–38
,
43
,
46
,
49
,
50
,
71

and Gödel 50

and Hobbes,
7
,
35
,
39
,
50–51
,
73

and the law,
36

and Newton,
35
,
36

on mind, mechanism, and God,
35
,
36
,
50–51
,
73

his principle of maximum diversity,
35

Leipzig, University of,
36

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519),
75

Leviathan

and age of digital computers,
6–7
,
9
,
11
,
13
,
136

in Old Testament,
1
,
2

and Ouroboros,
227

Leviathan
(Hobbes),
1–7
,
11
,
13
,
136
,
159

Leviathan Drawn out with a Hook
(Ross),
2

Leviathan Project (System Development Corporation),
178
,
181–84
,
189

Leyden jar (capacitor),
139

lichens,
12
,
112
,
129

life.
see also
argument from design
;
artificial life
;
evolution
;
origins of life
;
self-organizing systems
;
symbiogenesis
;
symbiosis

A-life and B-life,
129

as a collective intelligence,
18
,
187
,
217

and complexity,
13
,
28
,
160
,
190

and computability,
7
,
58

on different scales,
7
,
174
,
210

extraterrestrial 13,
113
,
190
,
200–202
,
209–210

goal of? 170–72,
201

linear or parallel? 189

nature of,
5
,
7
,
12
,
30
,
93
,
117
,
129
,
216

Life of Erasmus Darwin
(Krause and Darwin),
23

Life and Habit
(Butler),
27
,
217

Lincoln Laboratory (MIT),
144
,
179
,
184

logic.
see also
artificial intelligence
;
formal systems
;
Turing machine

Boolean,
10
,
43–45
,
65–67

and economics,
153–54
,
167–68

electromechanical 59,
94
,
142

electronic, proliferation of,
6–8
,
39
,
108
,
130
,
142

mathematical 49–50,
53–58
,
73
,
130
,
157
,
167–68
,
189–90
,
218

mechanical 39,
58–59

and mind,
6–7
,
35–38
,
46–47
,
50–51
,
72–73
,
110
,
183
,
218

and neurology,
46–48
,
89
,
108
,
156–57
,
177

probabilistic, or fuzzy,
44
,
108

symbolic,
7
,
36–37
,
43
,
49

“Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity” (McCulloch and Pitts),
89

“Logical Machines” (Peirce),
59

London, plague (1665) and fire (1666),
2
,
134

London Bankers' Clearing House,
171

London Mathematical Society,
69

longevity, of composite organisms,
175
,
191
,
210

Los Alamos (nuclear weapons laboratory),
76
,
78
,
79
,
81
,
82–83
,
88
,
92
,
97
,
107
,
111

Louis XVI, king of France (1754–1793),
138

Lovelace, Augusta Ada, Countess of (1816–1852), née Byron,
41

Luck, or Cunning?
(Butler),
18
,
27–28
,
115

Lull, Ramon (1235–1315),
47

Lunar Society of Birmingham,
21
,
32
,
33

M

machine guns,
220

machines.
see also
artificial intelligence
;
artificial life
;
automata
;
Can machines think?
;
digital computers
;
electronics
;
human-machine systems
;
self-organizing systems
;
telecommunications
;
Turing machine

abandoned,
93

evolution of, and Erasmus Darwin,
21

human subservience to,
25–26
,
33
,
226–27

Lamarckian tendencies among,
30

Leibniz and Babbage on coded descriptions of,
38

miniaturization of,
15
,
173–74

relational and differential (Smee),
47
,
171

sanctuary from,
17

self-reproducing,
31
,
76
,
108–109
,
172
,
175
,
185
,
191

symbiosis with,
10
,
12
,
172
,
179
,
224
,
226–27

ultraintelligent,
72
,
171
,
205
,
209

virtual,
125
,
127
,
128
,
185

in World War I,
193
,
221

MacPhail, Malcolm, on Turing,
58

Macy (Cybernetics) conferences,
101

magic, and artificial intelligence,
212–14

Malebranche, Nicolas (1638–1715),
181

Malthus, Thomas (1766–1834),
162

Manchester Mark I (and “baby” Mark I) computer,
67
,
70
,
104

Manchester University,
69–70
,
104–105
,
118
,
119
,
204

Mandl, Alex, on AT&T,
9

Manhattan Project,
76
.
see also
Los Alamos

mapping (of information),
38
,
133
,
137–38
,
216
,
225
,
228

between genotype and phenotype,
118–19
,
216
,
225

Marchant (mechanical calculator),
84

Margulis, Lynn,
12
,
113

Marquand, Allan (1853–1924),
58–59

Marschak, Jacob, on von Neumann,
154

materialism, of Hobbes,
3
,
5
,
51
,
227

Mathematical Analysis of Logic
(Boole),
43

Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
(von Neumann),
77

mathematical tables, and digital computing,
39–40

Mathematical Theory of Communication
(Shannon),
61

mathematics.
see also
algebra
;
arithmetic
;
digital computers
;
formal systems
;
game theory
;
incompleteness
;
logic

foundations of,
6–7
,
43–44
,
49–50
,
53–58
,
156
,

philosophy of,
7
,
9
,
38
,
39
,
41–44
,
49–50
,
130
,
168
,
190
,
218
,
228

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