Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Deus Ex Automatis, Part I
A cellular automaton, of course, is a kind of discrete model, which as you will see shortly can be a useful thing for hackers. Today's post is the beginning of my O'Reilly Emerging Technology presentation, in a heavily edited version.
I will present the talk in a series of posts, outlining the discovery and history of this kind of model. I'll follow with a mechanical overview of cellular automata, for hackers. Next, a few examples in the fabulous Perl 6 programming language (using Pugs, of course). Last, but not least, I will present the long list of open questions I presented at the end of my talk. These were the start of a Q/A session at the conference, and I hope they will be here as well.
When I gave the talk in San Diego, I started with some witty remarks, facilitated by the poorly functioning A/V system. On the original text of the speech, which I will post with the original slides at the end of these journal entries, I had the following note after my intro:
So if you can manage that before moving on, take a drink, pause, and look thoughtful.
Cellular Automata.
Really rolls off of the tongue.
John von Neumann (a name you'll hear a lot) established the study of these models as a field. He was, unfortunately for all of us, a native speaker of physics. Worse yet, his second language was Hungarian. He's the one who saddled us with the name.
Cellular Automata.
I first encountered cellular automata about seven years ago, shortly after moving to Washington, DC. Living in Washington affords some advantages for doing research. For instance, our neighborhood library turns out to have every book ever published, and then some.
Because of my proximity to the Library of Congress, when Stephen Wolfram came out of hiding with A New Kind of Science, I wasn't one of the people who had to camp out in front of the bookstore for three days to get one.
I just went down to the library.
But that was just the beginning. If you're planning a visit to Washington, make sure to send me an email. I'll take you on the cellular automatour. The real treasure trove is in the Library of Congress manuscript reading room. John von Neumann left his papers- published and unpublished- to the library when he died.
Which you can just ask for.
Wow.
The letters between Stanislaw Ulam and John von Neumann are a great starting point. The two probably should be credited as co-founders of the field. Sanislaw Ulam had a great deal of affection for von Neumann, always calling him "Johnny". His letters were full of practical advice, grand plans, and occasional favors he would ask of von Neumann.
John von Neumann inevitably wrote back something utterly banal.
"Don't you owe me fifty cents?" Of course that was 1947. Fifty cents was a lot of money then.
Which brings me to my next point. If this is a sixty-year-old field, why was I giving a presentation at an Emerging Technology conference one week ago? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
I will present the talk in a series of posts, outlining the discovery and history of this kind of model. I'll follow with a mechanical overview of cellular automata, for hackers. Next, a few examples in the fabulous Perl 6 programming language (using Pugs, of course). Last, but not least, I will present the long list of open questions I presented at the end of my talk. These were the start of a Q/A session at the conference, and I hope they will be here as well.
When I gave the talk in San Diego, I started with some witty remarks, facilitated by the poorly functioning A/V system. On the original text of the speech, which I will post with the original slides at the end of these journal entries, I had the following note after my intro:
DRINK, PAUSE, LOOK THOUGHTFUL
So if you can manage that before moving on, take a drink, pause, and look thoughtful.
Cellular Automata.
Really rolls off of the tongue.
John von Neumann (a name you'll hear a lot) established the study of these models as a field. He was, unfortunately for all of us, a native speaker of physics. Worse yet, his second language was Hungarian. He's the one who saddled us with the name.
Cellular Automata.
I first encountered cellular automata about seven years ago, shortly after moving to Washington, DC. Living in Washington affords some advantages for doing research. For instance, our neighborhood library turns out to have every book ever published, and then some.
Because of my proximity to the Library of Congress, when Stephen Wolfram came out of hiding with A New Kind of Science, I wasn't one of the people who had to camp out in front of the bookstore for three days to get one.
I just went down to the library.
But that was just the beginning. If you're planning a visit to Washington, make sure to send me an email. I'll take you on the cellular automatour. The real treasure trove is in the Library of Congress manuscript reading room. John von Neumann left his papers- published and unpublished- to the library when he died.
Which you can just ask for.
Wow.
The letters between Stanislaw Ulam and John von Neumann are a great starting point. The two probably should be credited as co-founders of the field. Sanislaw Ulam had a great deal of affection for von Neumann, always calling him "Johnny". His letters were full of practical advice, grand plans, and occasional favors he would ask of von Neumann.
John von Neumann inevitably wrote back something utterly banal.
"Don't you owe me fifty cents?" Of course that was 1947. Fifty cents was a lot of money then.
Which brings me to my next point. If this is a sixty-year-old field, why was I giving a presentation at an Emerging Technology conference one week ago? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Labels: cellular automata, deusexautomatis, etech, history
// posted by David @ 11:07 AM 
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