Darwin Among the Machines (53 page)

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Authors: George B. Dyson

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Distant Early Warning (DEW Line) system,
146

diversity,
19
,
35
,
116
,
128

DNA (deoxyribonucleic add),
27
,
118
,
121
,
123
,
128
,
189
,
217

Doctor Mirabilis (Roger Bacon),
212

Dollis Hill (U.K.),
65

DRAM (dynamic random-access memory),
8
.
see also
random-access memory

dual origin theory

of life,
29–31
,
32
,
112–13

of technology,
30
,
32

duality, and Boolean algebra,
44

duels, in game theory and nuclear deterrence,
146

dugout canoe, as architectural metaphor,
214

Dyar, Harrison Gray,
141

Dyson, Esther,
xi-xii

Dyson, Freeman J.,
xi

on George Dyson (father),
222

on Institute for Advanced Study,
97
,
102

on origins of life,
28–30
,
32

Dyson, George (1883–1964),
219–22

E

Early History of Data Networks
(Holzmann and Pehrson),
133

Eckert, John Presper,
81
,
82
,
90–91
,
98

Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company,
90–91
,
147

ecology,
13
,
175
,
187

computational,
122
,
185
,
187
,
189
,
207
,
226

economy and economics,
153
,
158–71

electronic, magnitude of,
167

and game theory,
154–56
,
168

and intelligence,
109
,
153
,
156
,
158–59
,
167–69
,
171

and meaning,
8
,
156
,
158–59
,
165
,
167–69
,
171

and von Neumann,
76
,
153
,
155

ecosystems, intelligence of,
186

Edelcrantz, Abraham (1754–1821),
139

EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator),
124

EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer),
90–91
,
98

EDVAC report,
90
,
99
,
104

effective calculability,
54–55
,
57

Einstein, Albert (1879–1955),
94
,
96

Eiseley, Loren (1907–1977),
13
,
154
,
211

Eisenhower, Dwight D.,
76

“Electrical Model illustrating a Mind having a Will but capable of only Two Ideas” (Richardson),
87

electricity,
6
,
42
,
58–59
,
141
.
see also
currency

and Erasmus Darwin,
22–23

Nathaniel Hawthorne on,
211

and Smee,
45
,
47–48

and telegraphy,
138
,
139–44

electrodynamics, and Ampère,
6
,
141

electronic connectors, consumption of,
8

electronic mail,
165–66
,
209

electronics,
130
,
198
,
202
.
see also
integrated circuits
;
microprocessors
;
vacuum tubes

and digital computing,
10
,
31
,
64–71
,
75
,
80–81
,
87–88
,
93–107

and logic,
6
,
37
,
44
,
103
,
130
,
159

proliferation of,
8
,
30
,
91
,
167
,
203

electrons, nature of, and mind,
109
,
195
,
197–98

electrotherapy,
22

Elements of Electro-Biology
(Smee),
45

Eliot, T. S., on his residence at the IAS,
94

Ellsworth, Miss Annie,
142

emergence, of life and intelligence,
9
,
12
,
18
,
29
,
188
,
204
,
223–24

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer),
44
,
67
,
78
,
80–83
,
85
,
87–88
,
90
,
98
,
99
,
224

Enigma (cryptographic machine),
62–65
,
81

entelechies (Leibniz),
35

entomology, recombinant,
174

entropy, decrease of, and cost,
170

Entscheidungsproblem
,
54–55
,
57

Erewhon
(Butler),
16–17
,
24
,
26
,
226

Erewhon Revisited
(Butler),
17

error, and intelligence,
45
,
70

error correction,
124
,
133
,
150
,
156
,
189

Eskdalemuir (Scotland),
196

Essai d'Arithmétique Morale
(Buffon),
154

Essay on the Philosophy of Science
(Ampère),
6

Estrin, Gerald,
148

ETH (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich),
78

eternity, and mind,
218

ether (electromagnetic),
195

eukaryotic cells,
12
,
112

evolution.
see also
symbiogenesis
;
Darwin, Charles
;
Darwin, Erasmus
;
Darwinism
;
Butler

acceleration of,
32
,
81
,
115
,
119
,
123
,
130
,
190–91

artificial,
111
,
113–21
,
123
,
125–28
,
184
,
215–16

Darwinian,
111
,
113–14
,
119
,
186
,
190
,
202

Darwinian, limits of,
30–31
,
115
,
186–87
,
188
,
190–91
,
217

and game theory,
153
,
155
,
185

intelligence of,
18
,
27
,
71
,
115
,
185–90
,
227–28

of intelligence,
18
,
82
,
109–110
,
219
,
223–24

Lamarckian,
20
,
29–31
,
113

of meaning,
8
,
156
,
158
,
171
,
183

progressive and regressive,
115
,
190
,
226

of software,
9
,
98
,
121–24
,
224

and stagnation,
114
,
116

wastefulness of,
215

Evolution, Old and New
(Butler),
20
,
23
,
27

evolution, stellar,
83

Exchequer tallies,
162–64
,
165

excitation and inhibition, in neural nets,
46
,
159

F

Fahie, John J.,
140

Famous History of Frier Bacon
,
212–14

feathers, evolution of, and flight,
81

feedback,
6
,
170
,
219

Fekete, Michael,
77

Ferranti Ltd.,
70

Feynman, Richard P. (1918–1988),
83–84
,
86
,
173–74

fiber optic communications,
7
,
8–9
,
203–204
,
207

Fiddling While Rome Bums
(Dyson),
221

field, computational,
216

Fine Hall (Princeton University),
58
,
96

firing tables (ballistic),
79–81

First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC
(von Neumann),
90

First Year in Canterbury Settlement
(Butler),
16

Fish (cryptographic machine),
63–66

Flexner, Abraham (1866–1945),
95–97

Flexner, Esther and Moritz,
95

floppy disks,
7
,
98
,
122

Flowers, Thomas H.,
65
,
67

Ford, Vincent,
76

formal systems,
7
,
36–38
,
43–50
,
53–58
,
70–71
,
78
,
130
,
157
,
167–68
,
190
.
see also
Boole
;
Gödel
;
incompleteness
;
Leibniz
;
Turing machine

Fortran (Formula Translation language),
122

foundries, silicon,
214

Frankel, Stan,
84
,
88

Frankenstein
(Shelley),
22

Franklin, Benjamin (1706–1790),
21
,
139

frequency modulation (in biology),
169
,
225

Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
(Greene),
212

Friends' Ambulance Unit (World War I),
86
,
193–97

Fuld, Caroline (Mrs. Felix),
95

Fuld Hall (Institute for Advanced Study),
97
,
100
,
102

functions.
see also
computability
;
Turing machine

Boolean,
43–44

computable,
7
,
9
,
40
,
54–55
,
57–58
,
62
,
139

effectively calculable,
54–55
,
57

halting,
57

iterated,
37
,
54
,
61

noncomputable,
54
,
57–58

recursive,
7
,
54–55
,
57
,
167
,
190

successor,
54–55

fungi,
112
,
129

fuzzy logic,
44

G

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642),
3
,
75
,
80
,
113

Galvani, Luigi (1737–1798),
22–23

galvanism,
22–23
,
140
,
160

“Galvanism and its application to Telegraphy” (Salvá),
140

game theory,
6
,
76
,
89
,
146
,
153–59
,
168
,
171–72
,
185

Gandy, Robin, on Turing,
55

ganglia, computational,
226

Garrett, Garet (1878–1954),
221
,
226–27

Gaure, Simen, on Barricelli,
120
,
129

Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1777–1855),
141

“General and Logical Theory of Automata” (von Neumann),
32

genes and genetics,
8
,
19
,
27
,
29
,
71
,
114–19
,
123–24
,
126
,
128–29
,
160
,
185
,
190
,
202
,
216
,
224–25

genotype, and distinction from phenotype,
30–31
,
117–19

Giant Brains
(Edmund C. Berkeley),
108

Girshick, M. A., on duel theory,
146

glass, and evolution of technology,
202

Glicksberg, I. L., on duel theory,
146

global intelligence, coalescence of,
2
,
10–13
,
32
,
112
,
130
,
158
,
170
,
190–92
,
205
,
209
,
211
.
see also
collective intelligence

God

and the argument from design,
116
,
186

and Babbage,
35
,
39
,
41–42

and Butler,
187

and Erasmus Darwin,
20

and Garet Garrett,
221

and Hobbes,
1
,
3
,
5
,
51
,
227

and Leibniz,
35–36
,
51

and Newton,
227

and Petty,
171

and Stapledon,
36
,
195
,
207

Gödel, Kurt (1906–1978),
49–50
,
54
,
57
,
58
,
70–71
,
78
,
94
,
99–100
,
120
,
129–30
,
167–68
,
190
.
see also
incompleteness

Gödel numbers,
49–50
,
129–30

Gödel's Theorems
(Huber-Dyson),
xi

Goldstine, Herman H.,
44
,
80–81
,
90–91
,
93
,
99–100
,
102
,
121

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