Posted on September 17, 2005 at 23:00:28.
limits of programmability
By ***collapse_subcommittee
ok, we know this has nothing to do with PBM....(I introduce this following on from Vauungs invocation of the evolving financial-computational hive mind)
this by now well-known piece by kittler
http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=74
puts an interesting case for the intrinsic limits of computation as we know it, basically saying that the capacity of programmable (that is, discrete circuit) computers places an irremediable limit on their capability to model - and, i extrapolate - become - connective systems. In simple terms, the sheer physical amount of hardware needed to model connective systems properly grows out of all proportion to the size of the system being modeled.
His parting shot is particularly interesting, he suggests that we should reverse the trend towards discretizing components, and utilise the inevitable 'noise' and chaos that goes on at a quantum level : basically he is saying that to break this computational barrier we need to 'compute' with lumps of matter, which would necessarily be non-programmable, that is, we will eventually jettison the synthetic 'microworlds' of discrete simulation and the (metaphysical) idea of 'software'.
It's also good how he treats the stratified layers of software engineernig with a form of cryptography carried out 'on behalf of' but also in some sense 'against' the user (certainly rings true speaking both as a coder and as a user of MS product). He also discusses the definition of 'information' as against signal noise.
Any thoughts on this (they cried dolefully) - is it irrelevant given that computational devices are always connected at some point to matter, or is it made obsolete by quantum computing (surely not since this is still Turing-based?)...