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OK, I'll start the argument: Is a computer system analogous to a community, an individual, both or neither?
by guscost 14y ago
OK, I'll start the argument: Is a computer system analogous to a community, an individual, both or neither?
- presidentender 14y agoBecause computer systems reliably do exactly what they are told, they cannot be accurately compared to unpredictable and self-interested actors.
- breckinloggins 14y agoThe boring response: - An individual, because it is a conglomeration of mostly independent entities working both alone and together in a mostly deterministic fashion. The entire collective is viewed as a cohesive "system" with a purpose by those outside of it, even IF that singular identity is actually an illusion produced by nothing more than the emergent properties of a bunch of individual parts working together according to predefined rules. (Example: an individual computer program) - A community, because as we build systems on top of systems, each of which is semi- or fully-autonomous, and each interacting with other systems in a sense of rational self-interest (even if that self-interest is itself nothing but an emergent illusion), the whole collection of these systems begins to exhibit the properties usually reserved for human communities. (Examples: a smartphone with its OS and all apps working together; an enterprise-wide IT infrastructure; the internet) - Neither, because (as some might argue), no computer system at any level (from CPU microcode to applications to the entire internet) actually exhibits the true self-directed nature of complex biological entities.* * I don't actually believe this, if only because humans usually provide that "random self-direction" by proxy.
- guscost 14y agoAnd now the ten dollar question: When thinking about the computer in these different ways, should we be using different languages?
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- tomjen3 14y agoAll of the above. It is analogous to a community because you often have several different parts of the program working together to achieve a common goal (although I would consider it closer to a tribe than a community), it is an individual because it works with one mind and it is neither because it is a computer program, not human.
- bgilroy26 14y agoCommunities and individuals are isomorphic [1]. A good compiler will substitute individuals for communities wherever it results in a performance gain. 1. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics-politics/#1.3 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics-politics/#1.3
- guscost 14y agoIntriguing. Makes me think that an individual is just an extremely evolved community.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]