Phenotropics

[img_assist|fid=59|thumb=1|alt=Blog for thought]

Jaron Lanier, computer scientist, known as the co-inventor of "Virtual Reality" and that term, can also be called the father of Phenotropic Computing, ie if there is something like that. He claims that the current software model as "protocol adherence" is fundamentally wrong, and that it should be based on "pattern recognition". Phenotropics is, what he calls, "[A] high-risk, speculative, fundamental new approach to computer science."

[P]attern recognition is really starting to come into its own. Sadly, a lot of that's driven by security and defense requirements, but for whatever reason, it's becoming viable. And we're at the point where computers can recognize similarities instead of perfect identities, which is essentially what pattern recognition is about. If we can move from perfection to similarity, then we can start to reexamine the way we build software. So instead of requiring protocol adherence in which each component has to be perfectly matched to other components down to the bit, we can begin to have similarity. Then a form of very graceful error tolerance, with a predictable overhead, becomes possible. The big bet I want to make as a computer scientist is that that's the secret missing ingredient that we need to create a new kind of software.

A thought provoking but controversial passage from the interview -

What's the difference between a bug and a variation or an imperfection? If you think about it, if you make a small change to a program, it can result in an enormous change in what the program does. If nature worked that way, the universe would crash all the time. Certainly there wouldn't be any evolution or life. There's something about the way complexity builds up in nature so that if you have a small change, it results in sufficiently small results; it's possible to have incremental evolution.

This is arguably more philosophy than science (but then who said computer science has anything to do with science ;)). Some of his claims are questionable, his explanations and reasonings confusing. Nevertheless, its a radical new idea, and impels you to think from a whole new perspective.

• Coding from Scratch: A Conversation with Virtual Reality Pioneer Jaron Lanier Part 1, Part 2.
• JARON LANIER: THE CENTRAL METAPHOR OF EVERYTHING?
• WHY GORDIAN SOFTWARE HAS CONVINCED ME TO BELIEVE IN THE REALITY OF CATS AND APPLES

On a side note- To quote, "The problem with software is that we've never learned how to control the side effects of choices, which we call bugs." Reminds me of the The Matrix