rain forest, 125, 126–27
Rajchman, Jan (1911–1989), 104
RAND Corporation. see also SAGE; SDC
and digital communications, 147–52
and digital computing, 97, 104, 107, 148–52, 155, 178
founding and organization, 145
and game theory, 146, 155
and human-machine systems, 179
and Leviathan Project, 178, 181
and nuclear strategy, 145–48
and origins of SDC, 178–79
and random numbers, 145
and SAGE, 179, 181
and space exploration, 145–46
Randell, Brian, 67
random-access memory, 8, 12, 69, 98, 103–105, 122, 136
random variation, how random? 18, 27, 113–15, 124
randomness
advantages of, in network architecture, 12, 71
and evolution of non-randomness, 18, 113–15, 123–24, 185
and evolution of software, 123–24
and intelligence, natural and artificial, 67, 70–71, 72–73, 177–78, 183, 185
and RAND, 145
ratiocination (Hobbes), 4, 6–7, 49
rats in a cathedral, Olaf Stapledon on, 199
Ray, Thomas, xii, 125–28
RCA (Radio Corporation of America), 91, 99, 104, 105, 144
recursive definitions, defined, 167
recursive functions, 7, 54–55, 57, 167, 190. see also computability
recursiveness, in biology, 123, 190
Reichelderfer, Francis W., 87
Reims (France), 212
Rejewski, Marian, 64
relays, electromagnetic, 39, 44, 58, 94, 142, 150
Reliable Digital Communications Systems Utilizing Unreliable Network Repeater Nodes (Baran), 149
replication and reproduction, distinguished, 29–32, 123
Restoration (of Charles II), 163
revolutions
Cambrian, 21, 160
Darwinian, 4, 186
digital, 58, 122, 147, 160
Industrial, 21, 22, 134
monetary, 160
in physics, 50, 73
Revolution, French, 138, 154
Reynolds, Osborne (1849–1912), 84–85, 110
Reynolds number, 84–85, 110
Richardson, Lewis Fry (1881–1953), 86–87, 88, 110, 195–98
on electronics and mind, 87
on “intentionally guided dreaming,” 196
and Olaf Stapledon, 195–98
opposition to military research, 87
on parallel computing, 86, 88, 110, 196–97
and weather prediction, 86–87, 88, 110, 196–97
and World War I, 86, 195–98, 220
Ricochet (wireless network), 207–208
RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), 68
Rivest, Ronald, 165
RNA (ribonucleic acid), 30, 129
Robinson, Henry, on banking, 164
Rome, Beatrice and Sydney, 181–83, 189
Rome, University of, 119
Ronalds, Francis, 140–41
Rosenblueth, Arturo, 100–101
Ross, Alexander (1591–1654), 2, 4
Rota, Gian-Carlo, 91–92, 157
Royal College of Music (London), 221
Royal Fusiliers, 220
Royal Society, 36, 132–35, 137, 141, 160
Rózycki, Jerzy, 64
RSA (Rivest, Shamir, Adleman) encryption, 165–66
Rumelhart, D. E., 159
S
SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment), 184
SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) air-defense system, 144, 178–81, 183–184, 189
and argument from design, 189
and origins of computer mouse, 226
and origins of data networking, 144, 180, 183–84
physical and computational scale, 179–81
Salvá, Don Francisco (1751–1828), 140
Santa Monica (California), 145, 178
scale
of biology and technology, 7–8, 173–75, 186, 208
of mind, intelligence, and time, 7–8, 186, 190, 215–18, 224, 228
“Scale of Creatures, The” (Petty), 171
Schaffer, Simon, 6
Scherbius, Arthur (1878–1929), 62
Scheyer, Emmanuel, 61
Schilling, Baron Paul L., 141
schizophrenia, 176
Schwarzschild, Martin, 83, 107
science
end of? 13
and the military, 75, 79, 91–92, 145
Science and a Future Life (Myers), 201
science fiction, 22, 198–99, 204
Scientific American, 61
SDC (System Development Corporation), 178–83
SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer), 79
Section Sanitaire Anglaise Treize (S.S.A. 13), 194
security
and artificial life, 127–28
and cryptography 72, 151–52, 165–66
selection. See natural selection
Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), 103–104
Selectron memory, 104, 148
self-organizing systems, 2, 18, 71, 85, 109–110, 170, 175–78, 181–86, 188–90
self-replication and self-reproduction, distinguished, 29–32, 123
self-reproducing automata, 32, 76, 77, 108–109, 125, 175, 214
Selfish Gene (Dawkins), 27
Selfridge, Oliver, 72, 184–85, 189
semaphore, 133
semiconductors, 8, 108, 202–203, 208. see also microprocessors; integrated circuits; silicon
Sevastopol, fall of, 139
Seven Clues to the Origin of Life (Cairns-Smith), 118, 202
sex, origins and importance of, 19, 115, 116
Shamir, Adi, 165
Shannon, Claude E., 61, 99, 144, 150
Shapin, Steven, 6
Shapley, L. S., 146
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (née Godwin, 1797–1851), 22
Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792–1822), 22
“Shewing a Way how to communicate one’s Mind at great Distances,” (Hooke), 133–34
shift registers, 37, 103, 106
Shimomura, Tsutomu, 127
Siemens, Inc., 65
signals. See code and coding; telecommunications
silica (silicon dioxide), 202–203
silicon, as semiconductor, 8, 109, 202–203, 214. see also integrated circuits; microprocessors; semiconductors
Silliman lectures (von Neumann), 108, 109, 155–56
Silvester II, pope (Gerbert, ?–1003), 212
size, in biology and technology, 15, 174, 208. see also scale
Slutz, Ralph, 79, 100, 101
Small, William, 21
Smee, Alfred (1818–1877), 45–48
Smee, William, 45
Smith, Adam (1723–1790), 168
Smithsonian Institution, 142
society. see also collective intelligence; organisms, collective
and human intelligence, 71
machines as, 31
modeling of, 182–184
as self-organizing system, 2–3, 168
Society of Friends (Quakers), 87, 193, 194, 196. see also Friends’ Ambulance Unit
Society of Mind (Minsky), 72, 168
Society for Psychical Research, 201
software. see also code and coding; languages; programming; symbiogenesis
in biology, 29, 32, 112, 123, 160
object-oriented, 123, 128, 185, 189
origins and evolution of, 9–10, 57, 70, 83–84, 90, 112, 124, 160, 180, 185, 188–89
proliferation of, 10–13, 98, 121–24, 126–29, 170, 224–25
and universal Turing machine, 9–10, 57, 90
songs and apes, metaphor (Hillis), 222–25, 227
soul, nature of, and machines, x, 2, 9, 50–51, 53, 136, 172
Southwell, Sir Robert, 160, 171
species. see also Origin of Species
co
llective intelligence of, 18, 27, 115–16, 186–88, 217–18
as composite organisms, 27, 115, 172, 186, 191, 217–18
Erasmus Darwin, on origin of, 18–19, 21
origins and extinction of, in technology, 31, 122
Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine (Good), 72, 170–71
Sperry-Rand, 69, 91
spreadsheets, 11, 86, 214
Sputnik I and II, 146
Stapledon, William Olaf (1886–1950), 35–36, 193–201, 203–204, 209–210, 215, 217–18, 220
and Agnes Miller, 193, 198
on collective intelligence and composite mind, 193, 199–201, 203–204, 209–210, 217–18
on God, mind, and universe, 35–36, 197, 199, 209–210, 215, 217–18
and Leo Myers, 201
and Lewis Richardson, 195–98
on mind and electrons, 198
on radiotelepathy, 193, 199–201, 203–204
and World War I, 193-96, 220
Star Maker (Stapledon), 199, 209–210
Statistics of Deadly Quarrels (Richardson), 87
steam engines, 22, 31, 33, 37, 119, 134
stored-program computers. see also programming; Turing machine
and Babbage, 41–42
and Colossus, 67
and delay-line storage, 133
and EDVAC, 90
and ENIAC, 81
at Manchester, 67, 104
and Turing, 68–69, 88
Strategic Missiles Evaluation Committee, 144
Strauss, Lewis, 91
subroutines (computational), 18, 68, 121, 123
miracles as, 41
protein molecules as, 118
Sunbeam Lamp Company, 198
Sussex, University of, 215
Swade, Doron, 41
switching, 8, 9, 89, 109. see also packet switching
and Boolean algebra, 44
and coding, 8, 57, 89
and telegraphy, 142
symbiogenesis, 111–25, 128–30, 190
as adjunct to Darwinism, 112, 190
and complexity, 112, 117, 190
and evolution of evolution, 128, 130
and origins of life, 111–13, 117, 129
and parallel processing of genetic code, 115
and proliferation of software, 121–24
symbioorganisms. See symbiogenesis
symbiosis, 10, 12, 112, 170, 201. see also origins of life; parasitism; symbiogenesis
between computers and networks, 177
digital, 114, 121–22, 172
and evolution of mind, 223–24
and languages, 120, 122
with machines, 10, 12, 121, 172, 179, 224, 226–27
and origins of order, 112, 170
between physics and metaphysics, 227
between sequence and structure, 224
symbolic logic, 7, 36–37, 43, 49. see also formal systems
symbols. see also code and coding; formal systems; languages; symbolic logic
and evolution of meaning, 156, 158–59, 181, 225
and telegraphy 133, 137–39, 143
and Turing machine, 9–10, 55–57, 216
synchronization, in telecommunications, 133
System Development Corporation (SDC), 178–83
System Simulation Research Laboratory, 181, 183
Systems. See autocatalytic systems; nervous systems; self-organizing systems
“Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals” (Turing), 72
Szilard, Leo (1898–1964), 77
T
Tabulating Machine Company, 60
Tac-Tix (board game), 118, 121
tallies, Exchequer, 162–64, 165
tape, punched paper. See punched paper tape
taxpayers, and artificial intelligence, 157
Taylor, F. W., 182
Technology. see also artificial life; artificial intelligence; digital computers; evolution; machines
as a cathedral, 152
coevolution of, with mind, x, 203, 211
convergence with biology, via code, 13, 174
and nature, ix, 13, 228
and non-Darwinian evolution, 31, 187
origins of, 129, 202–203, 211
as Ouroboros and Leviathan brought to life, 227
scale of, 7–8, 173–75, 186
telecommunications. see also bandwidth; code and coding; collective intelligence; cryptography and cryptanalysis; networks; packet-switching; telegraphy; telepathy; telephone system; television
and Babbage, 42, 81
and banking, 62, 165–67, 170
convergence with computing, 11–12, 144, 148–52
fiber optic, 7, 8–9, 203
and Hooke, 133, 137–38
and human-machine symbiosis, 10
hybrid fiber-coaxial, 207
and machine-machine symbiosis, 32, 34
microwave, 148, 152, 208
optical, 131–34, 137–38, 166
and origins of digital computers, 65, 67, 104, 143–44
proliferation of, 8–9, 13, 133, 138–39, 142, 152, 167, 205–209
protocols, 12, 122, 133, 137, 139, 143–44, 205
and Wilkins, 132–33, 166
wireless, 205–208
Telecommunications Research Establishment (U.K.), 65, 104, 144
Telegraphy. see also code and coding; Morse code; multiplexing; networks; punched paper tape
and Ampère, 6, 141
electrical, 32–33, 42, 48, 138, 139–44
in New Zealand (1862), 32–33
optical, 137–39
and origins of digital computers, 143–44
and origins of packet switching, 143, 148
proliferation of, 142
torch, 132–33
Teleological Society, 101
teleology, 101, 183
telepathy, 199–202, 203, 208, 226
telephone, Smee’s premonition of, 48
telephone system. see also AT&T
analogy with neural network, 89, 182, 200
centralized switching of, 149
and digital communication, 180
telescope, and telecommunications, 133, 137, 142
teleprinter. See punched paper tape
television, 86, 159
bandwidth of, 204, 207
cable, 207
Smee’s premonition of, 48
Teller, Edward, 77, 78, 82
templates, in digital and molecular evolution, 125, 128, 202
Temple of Nature (Erasmus Darwin), 20
temporal smoothing, in neural networks, 169
Thearling, Kurt, 126
theology, 18, 116. see also argument from design
Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (von Neumann), 77, 153
Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata (von Neumann), 77, 109, 175
theory of two plasms, 112
“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” (Feynman), 173
Theseus (Shannon’s mechanical mouse), 150
Thinking Machines, Inc., 126
Thomas, Lewis (1913–1993), 191–92, 209
Thompson, Gerald, 167
Thomson, Joseph John (1856–1940), 198, 201
Thoreau, Henry David (1817–1862), 228
Tierra (digital environment), xii, 125–28
time
and computability, 40, 42, 43, 55–57, 72, 169
and discrete-state machines, 56
and memory, 8, 32, 136, 166, 169, 216
and mind, 136, 211, 213, 216–19, 224–25
and place, grand annihilation of, 33
time-sharing (computing), 144, 180
tools, stone, x, 202–203
topology (and topologists), 43, 54, 126, 130, 155, 191, 205, 208, 225
Toscanini, Arturo (1867–1957), 222
Tractatus Opticus (Hobbes), 160
transistors, proliferation of, 8, 192, 203. see also integrated circuits; microprocessors
translation, between sequence and structure, 27, 72, 117–19,
128, 216–17, 225
trial and error, 31, 63, 64, 71, 115–16, 176
Trinity College, Cambridge, 132
Troy, fall of, 131–32
truth, mathematical, 39, 42, 49–50, 53–54, 56, 167–68, 228
truth, hunted down versus intuition of, 160
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin (1857–1935), 146
Tukey, John W., 61, 99
turbulence, 84–85, 86, 110
Turing, Alan M. (1912–1954), 9, 40, 53–58, 59, 61, 63–72, 75, 88–89, 104–105, 108, 129–30, 139, 143, 175, 204, 216–17. see also “On Computable Numbers”; Turing machine
and artificial intelligence, 53, 70–73, 108, 117, 216–17
his Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), 67–69
on “being digital,” 69
and computability, 53–58
on consciousness, 204
and cryptanalysis, at Bletchley Park, 9–10, 63–67, 75
and digital coding, 139, 143
and Entscheidungsproblem, 54–55, 57
on intelligence and evolution, 71, 130
at Manchester, 69–70, 104–105, 204
at Princeton, 58, 72
and proof of an open digital universe, 130
his (1938) electric multiplier, 58
on self-organizing machines, 71
his theory of morphogenesis, 70, 175
and von Neumann 88–89
Turing machine 9, 10, 40, 55–57, 58–60, 61, 62, 66, 71–72, 76, 89, 90, 117, 129–30, 139, 157, 216–17
assumption of discreteness, 55–56
and cryptography and cryptanalysis, 62
and depth of mental field, 216–17
equivalence, with neural networks, 72, 89–90, 157
and mystery of mind, 73
and punched-card data processing, 61
and relation of sequence to structure, 56, 72, 216
and self-reproducing automata, 76
“state of mind,” and telecommunication, 139, 143
as stored-program computer, 69, 88, 90
universal, 56–57, 59, 67, 68, 71, 72, 76, 88, 90, 117
universality of, anticipated by Babbage and Peirce, 40, 58–59
Turing, Sara, 68
U
UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), 148
Ulam, Stanislaw (1909–1984)
on artificial intelligence, 157
on game theory and evolution, 153
on nuclear weapons and weather control, 88
on von Neumann, 76, 77, 85, 109
ultraintelligent machines, 72, 171, 205, 209
Unconscious Memory (Butler), 27, 34
undecidability. See incompleteness
UNIVAC, 91
Universe. see also digital universe
end of? 13
and intelligence, 18, 170, 186–187
as a long paper tape, 72
maximum diversity of, 35
and mind, 35, 51, 201
as stored-program computer, 41–42
Universities. See under location, University of
UNIX (operating system), 121
Darwin Among the Machines Page 40