And cast some copies into space, so that it will survive even the potential end of the planet !!!
On Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 9:41 PM, Ben Goertzel <[email protected]> wrote: > > Perhaps you should etch your blog on a metal disk, like the Rosetta Disk > ;-) > > http://rosettaproject.org/disk/concept/ > > ... ben g > > > On Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 9:05 PM, Logan Streondj <[email protected]>wrote: > >> "I preferred to write a blog post than a long email, as emails have more >> of a feeling of vanishing into the ether, whereas blog posts feel more >> persistent.." -- Ben Goertzel >> >> Yes, I completely agree. Whenever I make a good forum or mailing list >> post I also put it on my blog. What makes it more persistent is I backup >> my blogs on my computer. >> >> In terms of Longevity Hardware, paper has a much higher life expectancy >> than my computer harddrive, so I condense my blogs with some scripts I've >> made and have them printed with laser printers. Recently I fit 500-700 >> pages onto 26 pages, it's legible with a magnifying glass, but still safer >> than my hard-drive, and cost me less than $5 at the library :-). >> >> My personal journal I make out of heavy duty aluminum foil, and recently >> I've made some stainless steel covers. It makes it waterproof, and >> resilient to most of what the world can throw at it. >> So should have a much higher life-expectancy than even paper. >> On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 11:46 PM, Steve Richfield < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Logan, >>> >>> I have a super-duper computer proposal that addresses your concerns. >>> Boiling a large proposal down to a short paragraph, These would be LARGE >>> sized chips, arranged on a wafer so that they are interconnected >>> until/unless cut apart. The I/O pin logic on each chip would be large >>> geometry because it would have to survive, but the remainder would be lots >>> of redundant pieces, and a "relocatable loader" to load microcode as needed >>> while dodging new and old defects. >>> >>> Many of the most obvious challenges evaporate if/when you move to a >>> really high-level language like APL, which obviously needs a new front-end >>> for general acceptance, but which is now the ONLY language with semantics >>> adequate to support extremely large scale integration. With a relocatable >>> loader to dodge defects at "run time" and "crash time", it makes SO many >>> other things possible/easy. >>> >>> During fabrication, the chips would be tested to make sure that they >>> aren't SO bad that they would have to be discarded, and if not, groups of >>> them, or even all of them, would be left connected together to form a large >>> closely-connected network, e.g. with the ability to hand off memory banks >>> full of information to each other, etc. >>> >>> With an on-chip task-oriented OS, crashed sub-tasks would simply be >>> rerun on other hardware while the failing hardware is diagnosed and >>> reconfigured. Note that asynchronous logic and interconnections provide >>> natural fault detection, because instead of producing wrong answers, they >>> just stop, so a watchdog timer is all that is needed for failure detection. >>> Hence, no matter what went wrong, the worst that would happen would be a >>> short delay in operation while the system reconfigures and redoes the >>> failed task. >>> >>> It looks like so long as no more than ~1/10^4 transistors are dead, >>> these processors will work GREAT. Note that this is close to present yields >>> with gallium arsenide, which would provide a substantial boost in speed. >>> >>> Of course this would cost a LOT of money to develop - more than anyone >>> is now willing to commit to any new product. So, like SO many things here >>> on the AGI forum, this will sit around until the world changes to a form >>> that is more ready for such things. >>> >>> Continuing... >>> On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 5:00 PM, Logan Streondj <[email protected]>wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Steve yes that's the thing, a lot of it has to do with circuit size. >>>> 40 years ago the circuits used to be much larger and more durable. >>>> >>> >>> Even back then, many power transistors were really lots of tiny >>> transistors connected in parallel, and which would keep running even if a >>> few of them failed. Many people have used this early form of fault tolerant >>> logic without even realizing it. >>> >>> But now with nano-circuits they are extremely tiny, and prone to >>>> degradation from even the quantum heat-radiation of being at room >>>> temperature. >>>> >>> >>> Yes, any realistic new architecture MUST be able to handle run-time >>> component failures. Asynchronous logic to detect failures, relocatable >>> loaders to avoid faults, and a task-oriented on-chip OS to avoid being hurt >>> by run-time failures seems to be the key to such things. >>> >>>> >>>> To make longevity hardware, we really will have to make larger circuit >>>> sizes, and likely build in some redundancy, like multiple processors. >>>> >>> >>> No, you need extreme fault tolerance. The easiest way to achieve this is >>> with an array processor structure, but with either lots of spare nodes, or >>> with variable size hardware array rows. >>> >>> Something like those toffoli gates may allow for 3 dimensional >>>> computing, so what we lose from circuit density, we can gain by having >>>> multiple relatively cool layers. >>>> >>> >>> IMHO the biggest power-related problem is that "modern" computers handle >>> the data WAY too many times. A MUCH more efficient approach is "data >>> chaining", where ALUs are dynamically arranged in a way where a complete >>> loop iteration is done in a single clock cycle. This eliminates ALL of the >>> memory references internal to the loops, and is an order of magnitude or so >>> faster than array processor architectures. >>> >>> So, until the world becomes ready for such things, I will continue to >>> work on MUCH less exciting projects. >>> >>> Steve >>> ========= >>> >>>> On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Steve Richfield < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Logan, >>>>> >>>>> On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 11:16 PM, Logan Streondj >>>>> <[email protected]>wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> One issue that many seem to overlook, is the longevity of hardware >>>>>> issue. >>>>>> Fact is, that most hardware produced today, has a half-life of 4-7 >>>>>> years. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> That is because they now use cheap plastic packaging, aluminum bonding >>>>> wires, and don't gold plate much of anything. The military stuff lasts for >>>>> about a century. >>>>> >>>>> I just purchased a 40-year-old analog computer. It had a broken >>>>> resistor from shipment because the mounting bolts for a small power >>>>> transformer had been omitted (possibly from the original factory) so the >>>>> transformer had bashed the resistor, and it needed some alignment to >>>>> compensate for its aging components - but the alignment controls were >>>>> there >>>>> to align, so this wasn't technically even a "repair". Now, it all checks >>>>> out and is ready to be put back into service, in this case, to evaluate >>>>> real-time algorithms for smart hearing aids. With this, prospective >>>>> algorithms can be programmed in a few minutes, and changes can be made in >>>>> a >>>>> minute or so. >>>>> >>>>> In this next-generation design, the output is added to what the user >>>>> hears without it, so the analysis must be instantaneous (a few >>>>> microseconds >>>>> of delay are OK, but a millisecond would be disastrous) in order to >>>>> maintain proper phase relationships. Sure this could conceivably be done >>>>> digitally, but this would be a big hassle, and there would be no apparent >>>>> advantage in doing so. >>>>> >>>>> Of course I didn't have to go WAY back 40 years to find a suitable >>>>> computer, but in addition to being quite functional it is a beautiful >>>>> antique, complete with its glowing Nixie tube digital display. Besides, I >>>>> only had to pay $312 for it. >>>>> >>>>> Steve >>>>> >>>>> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >>>>> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/5037279-6ef01b0b> | >>>>> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >>>>> <http://www.listbox.com> >>>>> >>>> >>>> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >>>> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/10443978-6f4c28ac> | >>>> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >>>> <http://www.listbox.com> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Full employment can be had with the stoke of a pen. Simply institute a >>> six hour workday. That will easily create enough new jobs to bring back >>> full employment. >>> >>> >>> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >>> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/5037279-6ef01b0b> | >>> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >>> <http://www.listbox.com> >>> >> >> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/212726-c2d57280> | >> Modify<https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;>Your Subscription >> <http://www.listbox.com> >> > > > > -- > Ben Goertzel, PhD > http://goertzel.org > > "My humanity is a constant self-overcoming" -- Friedrich Nietzsche > > -- Ben Goertzel, PhD http://goertzel.org "My humanity is a constant self-overcoming" -- Friedrich Nietzsche ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-c97d2393 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-2484a968 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
