Kerr / Braithwaite / Metropolis Science, Computers, and the Information Onslaught

A Collection of Essays
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4832-6305-2
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 290 Seiten, Web PDF

Science, Computers, and the Information Onslaught: A Collection of Essays covers the proceedings of the 1981 meeting on 'Science and the Information Onslaught, held at Los Alamos, New Mexico. This book is organized into five parts encompassing 19 chapters. The first part deals with the problems of measurement and the uses of information in decisions concerning national security. This part also emphasizes the dependence of survival on technological progress. The next part examines the foundations of information theory, the interaction between psychological concepts and the mathematical theories of automata, and the major problems in robotics. These topics are followed by discussions of the efforts to codify languages in formal grammatical systems and the past misuse of irrelevantly detailed information in decision making, specifically the use and misuse of information in government decisions about technological projects. The remaining parts consider the project of enhancing human abilities by the insertion of silicon chips in the body. These parts also assess the implications of a microelectronic technology capable of producing chips bearing millions of logically active circuit elements. Accounts of cryptanalytic successes in World War II are also included. This book will be of value to mathematicians, physicists, linguistics, and computer scientists.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kerr, Donald M.

Braithwaite, Karl

Metropolis, N.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Front Cover;1
2;Science, Computers, and the Information Onslaught: A Collection of Essays;4
3;Copyright Page;5
4;Dedication;6
5;Table of Contents;8
6;Contributors;10
7;Preface;12
8;Part I: Introduction;16
8.1;Chapter 1. Welcoming Comments to the Conference on Science and the Information Onslaught;18
8.2;Chapter 2. Technological Innovation: The Key to Our National Security;22
9;Part II: The Science of Information;28
9.1;Chapter 3. The Human Possession and Transfer of Information;30
9.1.1;1;30
9.1.2;2;31
9.1.3;3;32
9.1.4;4;34
9.1.5;5;36
9.1.6;6;38
9.1.7;7;40
9.1.8;Notes and References;41
9.2;Chapter 4. Computers, Control, and Intentionality;44
9.2.1;1. Introduction;44
9.2.2;2. Intentional Goal-Seeking;46
9.2.3;3. The Teleological Continuum;50
9.2.4;4. Evolution and Intentional Control;56
9.2.5;5. Conclusion;69
9.2.6;Acknowledgments;69
9.2.7;Notes and References;69
9.3;Chapter 5. Machines and Elephants Never Forget;72
9.4;Chapter 6. Review of the Quantum-Mechanical Measurement Problem;78
9.4.1;1. Introduction;78
9.4.2;2. The Measurement Process—Can Quantum Mechanics Describe It?;83
9.4.3;3. Two Proposals to Reconcile Quantum Mechanics with the Measurement Process;87
9.4.4;4. Other Weaknesses of Measurement Theory;90
9.4.5;5. The Limits of Validity of Our Quantum Mechanics;92
9.4.6;References;97
9.5;Chapter 7. How Does One Get So Much Information from So Few Assumptions?;98
9.5.1;References;104
10;Part III: Science and the Information Onslaught;106
10.1;Chapter 8. Has Anything Changed Since "Science, Government, and Information"?;108
10.1.1;1. Introduction;108
10.1.2;2. The Great Change: Energy;111
10.1.3;3. Energy Information as a Paradigm;115
10.1.4;Reference;116
10.2;Chapter 9. Some Aspects of the Information Onslaught in Geoscience;118
10.2.1;Acknowledgments;124
10.2.2;References;124
10.3;Chapter 10. Libraries in the Year 2000;126
10.3.1;1. The Library in Its Environment;128
10.3.2;2. Collection versus Access;131
10.3.3;3. Bibliographic Control;136
10.3.4;4. Summary;138
10.3.5;References;139
11;Part IV: Computers and the Information Onslaught;142
11.1;Chapter 11. Large-Scale Parallel Computers;144
11.1.1;1. Approaches to Future Large-Scale Computers;144
11.1.2;2. Data Motion in a Perfect Shuffle Connection Network; Conflict Resolution;148
11.1.3;3. The "Paracomputer" Notion and Its Synchronization Operations;149
11.1.4;4. Operating System Kernel;150
11.1.5;5. Scientific Code Studies;151
11.1.6;Acknowledgments;154
11.1.7;References;154
11.2;Chapter 12. Information and Digital Computing: Too Much With Us, Near and Far?;156
11.2.1;1. From Where Is the Information Onslaughting?;156
11.2.2;2. All Dressed Up and No Idea of Where To Go;157
11.2.3;3. Birth Defects: The Chock in Front of the Wheel of Progress;159
11.2.4;4. Appropriate Behavior upon Entering the Promised Land: MIMD Networking;161
11.2.5;5. Meanwhile, Back on the Hardware Frontier;163
11.2.6;6. Now That You Have Everything You Ever Wanted;166
11.2.7;7. But Is There Life After 1991?;167
11.2.8;8. Aren't Those the Opening Bars of the Finale?;169
11.2.9;Disclaimer;171
11.3;Chapter 13. Words and Sounds;172
11.4;Chapter 14. Natural Language Based Information Management Systems;188
11.4.1;1. Why English;188
11.4.2;2. Underlying Models;190
11.4.3;3. Evaluating Natural Language Processing Systems;213
11.4.4;4. Conclusions;219
11.4.5;References;221
11.5;Chapter 15. SANDIA AND INFORMATION HANDLING;224
11.5.1;1. Safeguards;225
11.5.2;2. Nuclear Power Plant Safety;230
11.5.3;3. Asymmetric Encryption;231
11.5.4;4. Self-Guided Robots;236
11.5.5;5. Computer-Aided Design and Manufacture;237
11.5.6;6. Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits;239
12;Part V: Government, Society, National Security, and the Information Onslaught;246
12.1;Chapter 16. Remarks on the Accuracy of Some Recent World War II Accounts;248
12.1.1;References;253
12.2;Chapter 17. Science and National Security Decisions;254
12.3;Chapter 18. The Irrelevance of Information to Government Decision Making;268
12.4;Chapter 19. Can Science Education Cope with the Information Onslaught?;278
12.4.1;1. Current Challenges to Science Education;278
12.4.2;2. Some Proposals for Strengthening Science Education;281
12.4.3;3. Conclusion;285
12.4.4;Notes and References;285
12.5;Consensus for Action;288