[Over the past two days, there have been two big developments, one
concerning pensions, the other concerning manufacturing.]
More than two generations ago, von Neumann provided the mathematical
underpinnings to a self-replicating device. He referred to it as a
"Universal Constructor", but many call it a `von Neumann Machine'.
(To avoid confusion, such people refer to the underlying design of the
computers that most of us use as being based on the `von Neumann
architecture'. He also invented that. Some people use the term `von
Neumann Machine' to refer to the laptop on which I am writing this;
but I don't.)
Obviously, viruses, bacteria, trees, and humans reproduce.
A von Neumann machine is a non-biological reproducing entity that
humans create. (Although oddly enough, I do not see economies
referred to as von Neumann machines, except by me.)
The first `portable by humans', non-biological reproducing entities
that I know of were created in the late 1950s. (`Scientific American'
had an article, which I vaguely remember reading.) They were simple,
appropriately shaped blocks that if seeded by a combine and then
shook, would hook together to create other combines.
Just now, according to the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/sci/tech/4538547.stm
some Cornell University people have built a robot that can reproduce
itself. It uses modules that themselves must be manufactured in some
other way.
On the one hand, this is a far distance from entities that can take
`naturally provided' modules, that is to say atoms and molecules, and
use those for reproduction.
On the other hand, this feat tells me that we are no more than a
generation or two away, maybe closer, to the idea of a robotic factory
that can both reproduce itself and assemble some kinds of other object
that humans like, such as cars, out of intermediate components.
Doing the latter will mean that the assembly costs of manufactured
goods will decrease, although at present, the cost of the components
themselves and of the energy for the robots will still be there.
That is the manufacturing implication.
Indeed, if technological advance continues, from solar energy and
mining von Neumann machines could manufacture many of the objects that
people want.
The result will be that people become richer in certain kinds of
object, but not in goods like `location' that cannot be manufactured
and not in services (except for those services provided by robots,
such as automatic answering machines).
That is to say, the cost of certain kinds of manufactured object drops
in the same way that the cost of manufactured software has dropped.
(Indeed, we do not think of your receiving this message or of looking
at a Web page as `manufacturing'; we say that the information was
`copied'; but it is a kind of re-duplication, that is to say, of
multi-unit manufacturing.)
The Cornell people have not gone very far: but they have done more
(or at least talked about what they have done) than others. And they
indicate a step.
The characteristics of a von Neumann machine can be modeled by
considering existing self-reproducing entities, such as trees or
humans. (This is taken from
http://www.rattlesnake.com/notions/Choice-and-Constraint.html )
Like any living entity, a von Neumann machine must eat, which means it
must gather energy and other inputs.
In order to eat and live, a von Neumann machine must be able
distinguish useful inputs from poisons; it must be able to see (or
smell, taste, feel, or hear) potential food.
This means the machine not only needs appropriate sensors, but the
ability to understand and act upon the information. It needs eyes, a
brain, and hands.
In a small, `nano' von Neumann machine, thermal motion brings atoms
and molecules to a site. Most often, only the appropriate atom or
molecule settles in the site. Most others do not fit. (The others
that do fit create variations.)
Unless you think of the process of `fitting' as a combination of
sensing, analysis, and action, you will not consider these entities as
having `eyes', `brain', or `hand' at all. However, the process is
similar, but more condensed: input that fits is both identified
(perhaps wrongly) and accepted by that action.
The inputs, whether energy or material, must be transformed to enable
the original von Neumann machine to continue and to enable that
machine to reproduce.
In order to continue, the machine must be able not only to provide
itself with enough food -- enough energy and materials, it must also
be able to ward off illness -- to defend itself, and to heal itself --
to repair itself.
Moreover, the machine must be able to dump materials and energy it no
longer uses. It must be able to excrete. Some of this excreta will
be useless to us. It will be `pollution'. We will want other
excreta, manufactured `goods'. This will be what we humans say the
machine `produces'. Think of the alcohol in wine as being excreta ...
All in all, a von Neumann machine has a minimum of nine different
aspects:
1. energy and material inputs, or `food',
2. sensors, or `eyes, ears, and nose',
3. processors, or `brains',
4. effectors, or `arms', of various types.
These are hands that gather materials, perhaps by mining, or are
solar collectors that transform light into electricity. Effectors
manufacture new systems, repair old systems, defend the machine
and its parts, and move materials and energy that is no longer
needed out of the machine, as excreta (some of which may be what
human harvest).
5. internal transport and communications, a `circulatory system'
Effectors need to make use of internal transport and
communications, a `circulatory system'. Although in some ways, an
internal transport and communications system consists simply of
different kinds of effectors, people tend to categorize transport
and communications differently.
6. manufacturing, or `metabolism'
Similarly manufacturing, or `metabolism', takes place because of
effectors, but people think of a `metabolism' as different. This
includes the `metabolism' or manufacturing needed to reproduce.
7. design records or a `genome'
In order to maintain oneself, or reproduce descendants,
`blueprints', or a `genome', or design data must be kept.
8. a border or `skin'
The border may simply be the line dividing the machine from the
rest of the universe, a concept, or it may be a `skin' with
barriers or other effectors that serve as defense.
9. energy and materials output
Finally, a machine produces outputs, including waste heat, and
materials. Humans will dislike some outputs, the `pollutants',
and will like others, the `economic goods'.
A von Neumann machine can reproduce exactly or with errors. Even
though errors are common, it is possible to reduce the end number
through appropriate `error correction' techniques.
Natural selection requires that descendants show variation, either as
the result of sex or of reduplication errors. When reproduction is
accompanied by error or variation, the set of re-duplicated
descendants includes a mix of entities. Of that mix, a few will more
tightly reproduce the design of the original manufacturer and others
will more loosely reproduce that design.
Those descendants that do better in the circumstances in which they
find themselves -- which may be different from the original
circumstances -- will be more likely to reproduce themselves into
another generation, and thus, probabilistically speaking, be more
likely to pass on their design data to their descendants.
On the one hand, the `error' or `variation' aspect of reproduction is
important, since it means that different circumstances are met by von
Neumann machines with different capabilities. For natural selection
to succeed, new instances with different capabilities must appear.
On the other hand, the amount of `error' or `variation' cannot be too
great, since circumstances seldom change dramatically and if the
`error' or `variation' is too great, too few of the different entities
will reproduce. Hence, internal error correction mechanisms must
operate.
Humans may not want machines with new capabilities. Hence humans may
well design machines with very strong internal error correction
mechanisms. In addition, humans are not likely to introduce
auto-variation mechanisms or sex, and they are likely to produce tests
to make sure that newly produced machines are similar to older ones.
But without humans around, you may end up with a mechanical ecology
like that described in James P. Hogan's 1983 science fiction novel,
`Code of the Lifemaker'(1).
(Del Rey (1984), ISBN 0345305493,
Baen Books (2002), ISBN 0743435265
see `http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_the_Lifemaker')
--
Robert J. Chassell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
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