Darwin Among the Machines (58 page)

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Authors: George B. Dyson

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object-oriented,
123
,
128
,
185
,
189

progress, evolutionary,
115
,
190

“Proposal for the Development in the Mathematics Division of an Automatic Computing Engine (ACE)” (Turing),
68

protocols (telecommunication),
12
,
122
,
133
,
137
,
139
,
143–44
,
205

proving ground, U.S. Army, Aberdeen, Md.,
79–80

Psychological Review
,
87

punched-card data processing,
40
,
60–62
,
78
,
81–84
,
117
,
120
,
144
,
178

punched cards, consumption of,
61
,
122

punched paper tape,
69
,
105

and automatic control,
61

at Bletchley Park, World War II,
9–10
,
64–66
,
205

and digital computing,
68–69
,
103–104
,
106
,
144

and telegraphy,
65
,
143–44
,
148

purposive systems,
170

Q

Quakers (Society of Friends),
87
,
193–94
,
196

Quantulumcunque Concerning Money
(Petty),
162

quantum computation,
72

quantum mechanics,
77
,
78
,
227

quartz, and fiber optics,
203

R

R. H. Macy & Co.,
95

radio (and wireless),
64
,
191
,
204–208

AM, and survivable communications,
147

“cat's-whisker” crystal detector,
208

microminiature,
205

spread-spectrum,
206–208

radiotelepathy,
200
,
203
,
208

rain forest,
125
,
126–27

Rajchman, Jan (1911–1989),
104

RAND Corporation.
see also
SAGE
;
SDC

and digital communications,
147–52

and digital computing,
97
,
104
,
107
,
148–52
,
155
,
178

founding and organization,
145

and game theory,
146
,
155

and human-machine systems,
179

and Leviathan Project,
178
,
181

and nuclear strategy,
145–48

and origins of SDC,
178–79

and random numbers,
145

and SAGE,
179
,
181

and space exploration,
145–46

Randell, Brian,
67

random-access memory,
8
,
12
,
69
,
98
,
103–105
,
122
,
136

random variation, how random? 18,
27
,
113–15
,
124

randomness

advantages of, in network architecture,
12
,
71

and evolution of non-randomness,
18
,
113–15
,
123–24
,
185

and evolution of software,
123–24

and intelligence, natural and artificial,
67
,
70–71
,
72–73
,
177–78
,
183
,
185

and RAND,
145

ratiocination (Hobbes),
4
,
6–7
,
49

rats in a cathedral, Olaf Stapledon on,
199

Ray, Thomas,
xii
,
125–28

RCA (Radio Corporation of America),
91
,
99
,
104
,
105
,
144

recursive definitions, defined,
167

recursive functions,
7
,
54–55
,
57
,
167
,
190
.
see also
computability

recursiveness, in biology,
123
,
190

Reichelderfer, Francis W.,
87

Reims (France),
212

Rejewski, Marian,
64

relays, electromagnetic,
39
,
44
,
58
,
94
,
142
,
150

Reliable Digital Communications Systems Utilizing Unreliable Network Repeater Nodes
(Baran),
149

replication and reproduction, distinguished,
29–32
,
123

Restoration (of Charles II),
163

revolutions

Cambrian,
21
,
160

Darwinian,
4
,
186

digital,
58
,
122
,
147
,
160

Industrial,
21
,
22
,
134

monetary,
160

in physics,
50
,
73

Revolution, French,
138
,
154

Reynolds, Osborne (1849–1912),
84–85
,
110

Reynolds number,
84–85
,
110

Richardson, Lewis Fry (1881–1953),
86–87
,
88
,
110
,
195–98

on electronics and mind,
87

on “intentionally guided dreaming,” 196

and Olaf Stapledon,
195–98

opposition to military research,
87

on parallel computing,
86
,
88
,
110
,
196–97

and weather prediction,
86–87
,
88
,
110
,
196–97

and World War I,
86
,
195–98
,
220

Ricochet (wireless network),
207–208

RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer),
68

Rivest, Ronald,
165

RNA (ribonucleic acid),
30
,
129

Robinson, Henry, on banking,
164

Rome, Beatrice and Sydney,
181–83
,
189

Rome, University of,
119

Ronalds, Francis,
140–41

Rosenblueth, Arturo,
100–101

Ross, Alexander (1591–1654),
2
,
4

Rota, Gian-Carlo,
91–92
,
157

Royal College of Music (London),
221

Royal Fusiliers,
220

Royal Society,
36
,
132–35
,
137
,
141
,
160

Rózycki, Jerzy,
64

RSA (Rivest, Shamir, Adleman) encryption,
165–66

Rumelhart, D. E.,
159

S

SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment),
184

SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) air-defense system,
144
,
178–81
,
183–184
,
189

and argument from design,
189

and origins of computer mouse,
226

and origins of data networking,
144
,
180
,
183–84

physical and computational scale,
179–81

Salvá, Don Francisco (1751–1828),
140

Santa Monica (California),
145
,
178

scale

of biology and technology,
7–8
,
173–75
,
186
,
208

of mind, intelligence, and time,
7–8
,
186
,
190
,
215–18
,
224
,
228

“Scale of Creatures, The” (Petty),
171

Schaffer, Simon,
6

Scherbius, Arthur (1878–1929),
62

Scheyer, Emmanuel,
61

Schilling, Baron Paul L.,
141

schizophrenia,
176

Schwarzschild, Martin,
83
,
107

science

end of? 13

and the military,
75
,
79
,
91–92
,
145

Science and a Future Life
(Myers),
201

science fiction,
22
,
198–99
,
204

Scientific American
,
61

SDC (System Development Corporation),
178–83

SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer),
79

Section Sanitaire Anglaise Treize (S.S.A. 13),
194

security

and artificial life,
127–28

and cryptography 72,
151–52
,
165–66

selection.
See
natural selection

Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC),
103–104

Selectron memory,
104
,
148

self-organizing systems,
2
,
18
,
71
,
85
,
109–110
,
170
,
175–78
,
181–86
,
188–90

self-replication and self-reproduction, distinguished,
29–32
,
123

self-reproducing automata,
32
,
76
,
77
,
108–109
,
125
,
175
,
214

Selfish Gene
(Dawkins),
27

Selfridge, Oliver,
72
,
184–85
,
189

semaphore,
133

semiconductors,
8
,
108
,
202–203
,
208
.
see also
microprocessors
;
integrated circuits
;
silicon

Sevastopol, fall of,
139

Seven Clues to the Origin of Life
(Cairns-Smith),
118
,
202

sex, origins and importance of,
19
,
115
,
116

Shamir, Adi,
165

Shannon, Claude E.,
61
,
99
,
144
,
150

Shapin, Steven,
6

Shapley, L. S.,
146

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (née Godwin, 1797–1851),
22

Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792–1822),
22

“Shewing a Way how to communicate one's Mind at great Distances,” (Hooke),
133–34

shift registers,
37
,
103
,
106

Shimomura, Tsutomu,
127

Siemens, Inc.,
65

signals.
See
code and coding
;
telecommunications

silica (silicon dioxide),
202–203

silicon, as semiconductor,
8
,
109
,
202–203
,
214
.
see also
integrated circuits
;
microprocessors
;
semiconductors

Silliman lectures (von Neumann),
108
,
109
,
155–56

Silvester II, pope (Gerbert, ?–1003),
212

size, in biology and technology,
15
,
174
,
208
.
see also
scale

Slutz, Ralph,
79
,
100
,
101

Small, William,
21

Smee, Alfred (1818–1877),
45–48

Smee, William,
45

Smith, Adam (1723–1790),
168

Smithsonian Institution,
142

society.
see also
collective intelligence
;
organisms, collective

and human intelligence,
71

machines as,
31

modeling of,
182–184

as self-organizing system,
2–3
,
168

Society of Friends (Quakers),
87
,
193
,
194
,
196
.
see also
Friends' Ambulance Unit

Society of Mind
(Minsky),
72
,
168

Society for Psychical Research,
201

software.
see also
code and coding
;
languages
;
programming
;
symbiogenesis

in biology,
29
,
32
,
112
,
123
,
160

object-oriented,
123
,
128
,
185
,
189

origins and evolution of,
9–10
,
57
,
70
,
83–84
,
90
,
112
,
124
,
160
,
180
,
185
,
188–89

proliferation of,
10–13
,
98
,
121–24
,
126–29
,
170
,
224–25

and universal Turing machine,
9–10
,
57
,
90

songs and apes, metaphor (Hillis),
222–25
,
227

soul, nature of, and machines,
x
,
2
,
9
,
50–51
,
53
,
136
,
172

Southwell, Sir Robert,
160
,
171

species.
see also
Origin of Species

collective intelligence of,
18
,
27
,
115–16
,
186–88
,
217–18

as composite organisms,
27
,
115
,
172
,
186
,
191
,
217–18

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