From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz
Computation[edit<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz&action=edit§ion=22> ] Leibniz may have been the first computer scientist and information theorist. [65] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz#cite_note-65> Early in life, he documented the binary numeral system<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system> (base <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix> 2), then revisited that system throughout his career.[66]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz#cite_note-66> He anticipated Lagrangian interpolation<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_polynomial> and algorithmic information theory<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_information_theory>. His calculus ratiocinator<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_ratiocinator> anticipated aspects of the universal Turing machine<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Turing_machine>. In 1934, Norbert Wiener <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener>claimed to have found in Leibniz's writings a mention of the concept of feedback<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedback>, central to Wiener's later cybernetic<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics> theory. In 1671, Leibniz began to invent a machine that could execute all four arithmetical operations, gradually improving it over a number of years. This "Stepped Reckoner <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepped_Reckoner>" attracted fair attention and was the basis of his election to the Royal Society <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society> in 1673. A number of such machines were made during his years in Hanover<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanover>, by a craftsman working under Leibniz's supervision. It was not an unambiguous success because it did not fully mechanize the operation of carrying. Couturat reported finding an unpublished note by Leibniz, dated 1674, describing a machine capable of performing some algebraic operations. [67] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz#cite_note-67> Leibniz also devised a (now reproduced) cipher machine, recovered by Nicholas Rescher <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Rescher> in 2010.[68]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz#cite_note-68> Leibniz was groping towards hardware and software concepts worked out much later by Charles Babbage <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage> and Ada Lovelace <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace>. In 1679, while mulling over his binary arithmetic, Leibniz imagined a machine in which binary numbers were represented by marbles, governed by a rudimentary sort of punched cards.[69]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz#cite_note-69> Modern electronic digital computers replace Leibniz's marbles moving by gravity with shift registers, voltage gradients, and pulses of electrons, but otherwise they run roughly as Leibniz envisioned in 1679. On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 11:15 PM, Roger Clough <rclo...@verizon.net> wrote: > Dear Prof. Tegmark, > > I have been trying to think of a way to make computationalism work > but I can see no force that numbers might have on the physical world > that might empower them. > > Instead I see computationalism as a form of magic. Serious magic if you > will, > but still magic, magic in the sense that saying the proper magic words or > drawing certain figures or performing certain incantations or rituals will > cause things to happen, presumably in imitation of those forms. > > But even though it is a form of magic, it may be that the numbers > can be causal in some paranormal sense, if you can accept Leibniz's > view that ideas seek perfection and physical realization is the > highest perfection. If you can accept that, you might give some > acceptance to the idea, and that actions can be preformed > by intentions. > > Best, > > Dr. Roger B Clough NIST (ret.) [1/1/2000] > See my Leibniz site at > http://independent.academia.edu/RogerClough > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
