Tuesday, 27 May 2008
The Three Most Beautiful Realizations of Computer Science
« Byzantine or Babylonian Confusion in Eclipse? | Main | MathML Test v0.1 »1. von Neumann's Universal Constructor
Literally the mother of all automata, this brain child of mathematician John von Neumann is a self-replicating cellular automaton. Italian researchers Umberto Pesavento and Renato Nobili actually implemented von Neumann's designs in 1995, a that time a MS-DOS program. To actually see it run is as mesmerizing as watching a domino downfall record attempt, with the noted difference that this organism is actually putting new pieces on the board as it plays out. Once completed a kiss of life is transferred to kick-start the spawn, which starts replicating in its turn. Incidentally, an automaton without the au is not a tomato, that's why it is tomoton instead.
2. Karl Sims' Virtual Creatures
In a feat which would tempt Charles Darwin to actually start breakdancing, Karl Sims emulated evolution in a simulated physical environment. Using a graph-based code analogous to DNA which described virtual creatures in terms of both a blocky body skeleton as well as a nervous system, a genetic algorithm tested generations in their ability to swim, walk or jump. The computations were executed using a massively parallel supercomputer called the Connection Machine at Thinking Machines Corp., defunct since 1994. The resulting zoo of creatures looks eerily familiar, without intervention of any intelligent designer at all.
3. Tim Berners-Lee's Semantic Web
Built one layer on top of another by nobody and everybody, the Internet is everything including Packet Switching, TCP/IP, the World-Wide Web, all the way up to a myriad of social graphs.
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