Distributed computing is a fairly recent “innovation” of humankind. Yet everything
\nthat we see around us would not have been possible without it. Not only is it the most important, it is also the most common thing in nature really.
\n
\nMany times, one is saddled with unenviable jobs. For example, one might be forced on to complete an extremely complicated project, and all the project members are complete morons. What to do….?
\nNature faced exactly this problem, only worse. Its morons were single-cellular organisms and it’s project was (is) far too complicated to even describe here. A lesser being might have buckled under the pressure, but not our sprighty Nature. The gritty thing came up with the only solution it could.
\nDistributed Computing.<\/p>\n
Each moron project-member was given only a very simple set of responses\/actions. But combine millions and billions of such interacting project-members, and the set of possible actions became combinatorially explosive.
\nEvolution. The ultimate distributed computing network.<\/p>\n
Now, when we code a distributed network of agents, we obviously have to also code in the “goal” function in each of the agents. But as said above, the final goal function is far too complicated to describe, so obviously it cannot be coded\/explained to the moron project-members. <\/p>\n
Poor Nature. Not many cards in its hand really. So it did the only thing it could. Which is to NOT code in the goal at all. Another way to think about it is that even the question of WHAT the goal is, is “computed” by the distributed computing network. <\/p>\n
Somewhere along the way, a species called humans sprang up as a part of this network, and in a fit of recursive code-looping, decided to look upon this giant organic computer they were a part of. And tried to decode the implicit goal function.
\nWhatever else this humans species suffered from, it wasn’t a lack of imagination. So the guesses careened sprightly from Pleasing the Big Angry Man in the Sky, to Being Happy, to Who Cares Man Do You Want A Smoke of This.<\/p>\n
A few enterprising souls<\/a> got closer to solving the conundrum, by conjecturing the final answer<\/a>, Though as a part of mirthy fiction, Adams had the right idea. Don’t try to deduce the final<\/i> goal, it hasn’t been “computed” after all. We cannot comprehend it. Look instead at the distributed computing process – evolution. What does evolution “do”? <\/p>\n The points that shall follow are subtle. For protein compounds – the short term goal was to replicate. Each of these “goals” are That is why I find it dangerous that people delude themselves into thinking Update<\/b>: The scenario described here, of an intelligent being called Nature which designs a goal-driven evolution, is merely a literary device. It is just an equivalent way of viewing the exact schematics which are described in later posts. I apologize to those who did not see this and were confused – very probably, these posts are not for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Distributed computing is a fairly recent “innovation” of humankind. Yet everything that we see around us would not have been possible without it. Not only is it the most important, it is also the most common thing in nature really.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravikiran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nalbeit not the goal question itself. <\/p>\n
\nEvolution – the distributed computing network – is racing inexorably towards some goal. It has achieved this by using millions of interacting “agents” with limited functions. But these functions get increasingly refined. An equivalent way to describe this functional scenario is to imagine<\/i> the agents having short term goals, which get increasingly refined. <\/p>\n
\nFor single cellular organisms – the short term goal was to survive.
\nFor animals (creatures with a central nervous system) – it was to be happy.
\nFor Humans – it is to create\/control\/know. <\/p>\n
\na. short term goals (in evolutionary terms)
\nb. supercede the previous short-term goals in primacy. An animal with a nervous system would prefer to die and not survive rather than be acutely unhappy (e.g. to be in excruciating pain).
\nThe same thing holds for humans. We are more than animals. It is not enough for us to remain like a buffalo in a field contentedly chewing cud. We have to “improve” our lot. That is, we have to acquire more control<\/i> over our environments by gaining more knowledge<\/i> about it [right from quantum mechanical terms to galactic terms]. We do this by using our creative<\/i> capacity – something which does not exist in any other species, and which is distinct from mere cognitive faculties.<\/p>\n
\ntheir (short term) goal is to be happy, which is regressing back.<\/i> This is also the answer to the age-old conundrum of instinctual “unfulfillment” inspite
\nof hankering after happiness. That is coz we are supposed to create. In superceded importance to being happy. Humanity’s “goal” is creative progress.<\/p>\n