More on Quines. Still intrigued about Quines (even though I still don’t know why it’s relevant here – ever experience just knowing it is ? – Nash / Beautiful Mind – see earlier). Miscoranda gave me the original link. This new link eventually leads to the classic ACM Turing Award lecture by Ken Thompson.
I can see the self-replicating aspect relevant to genetics / evolution, learning / AI and to trojan horse viruses. Something which (in data) contains something defining it’s function (in code). Something akin to RDF here – subject / predicate stuff – content and intent – intension and extension ? I give in for now.
Interesting interview with Ken Thompson under the circumstances. [Quote] … simple yet powerful … see primitives and recognize their power to build structures …. When I see a top-down description of a system or language that has infinite libraries described by layers and layers, all I just see is a morass … interesting conversations, where two people think they are talking to each other but they’re not. They just miss, like two ships in the night … words …. meaning different things to both sides … PAC is vastly superior to MP3 … nobody who actually uses computers today knows what an operating system interface is … the same thing with Microsoft: Until something comes along that makes them irrelevant, the entry fee is too difficult and they won’t be displaced …. Anybody who says there’s no more innovation in the world is doomed …. why on earth travel to Russia to fly a Mig-29 ? …. How often does the Soviet Union collapse? It Who wouldn’t do that? When things like that come along, I’ll take them. They’re fun. [Unquote]