Computer Scientists,
---------------------------------
From the abstract of SG's speech:
"Real World Applications of Complexity Science"
http://dpac.la.asu.edu/schedule.html"...the loose art of agent-based modeling in the simulation and
design of self-organizing systems.
...What must the physical system be, such that it can act on its own=20
behalf?"
---------------------------------
From:
DISCOVER February 2003: Vol.23, No.2
http://www.discover.com/recent_issue/index.htmlDiscover Roundtable: Will Computers Replace Engineers?
A full transcript of the roundtable:
http://www.comsoc.org/headlines/EngineerRTFINAL.pdf.
HASELTINE: Today you see computers being designed by
nondeterministic, non-closed-form-type algorithms. For
example, genetic programming or neural nets, that sort of
thing, where literally we may not understand what we're
doing. And now we're talking about a new generation of
computers=97quantum computers=97where we don't even
know what intermediate calculations are going on, because
we can't know. So let's just extrapolate a little bit ahead into
the future. If we have a system that is an emergent property
of some algorithm, aren't we starting to border on the kind
of chaoplexity that Michael Crichton talked about in
Jurassic Park, where we don't know what it is we've got
and where it's going to go?
AHO: I don't know how many people here have read Steve
Wolfram's new book, A New Kind of Science. He makes the
point that very simple programs can exhibit very complex
behaviors. Those of us in computer science have known this
for several decades. Who knows what the underlying
programs governing the behavior of the universe are really
like? I think there's accidental complexity and essential
complexity, to use terms that Fred Brooks used in The
Mythical Man-Month. And I think we have a great future in
science of trying to discover the underlying processes. The
grand unified theory may not be in the form of mathematical
equations but may in fact be in the form of algorithms that
resemble programs.
---------------------------------
Stolen from
http://www.assuratech.com:"The point is, the model expands your view of the problems you face ...
In these ways we believe it will help us find new kinds of risk we never=20
thought of before."
Rudolf Frei, SwissRe
---------------------------------
From:
"The Intelligent Swarm"
By Rafe Needleman, February 13, 2003 Business 2.0
Thanks to Richard Cassin for sending this out.
"And an anthill, up close, is frightening. With ants, the whole is greater=
=20
than the sum of its parts
-- a lot greater, since a colony of ants is coordinated, effective, and=20
eerily intelligent.
Technology, recently, has learned from the ants, creating a new kind of=20
computer that's useless
by itself but formidable in a swarm."
---------------------------------
Has anyone read "Prey" by Michael Crichton?
There are references to the Santa Fe Complexity community.
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popus/crichtm.htm#ourshttp://www.crichton-official.com/prey/index.htmlMC: "But it is true that the younger generation will be faced with the=20
problems of
self-reproducing technologies in a way we haven't had to deal with yet. I=
think
they'll be up to the challenge."
Although the book is for the general public, I found it even scarier than:
---------------------------------
ISAAC/EINSTein: An Artificial-Life Approach to Land Combat
http://www.cna.org/isaac/---------------------------------
Real Scary that sloppy Microsoft now interested in
"particle swarm intelligence".
I'd say that an "intelligent Swarm" is a slippery fish indeed!
Aren't we going to eventually run into the same ethical questions
faced by the genetic engineers?
(Long before we have to worry about HAL2000's feelings!).
Regards,
Lanny
Locked
