Try emergent coding • Hacker News Board

Re: Try emergent coding

#21

Post by platz » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 6:38 PM UTC

endlessvoid94 wrote: post #11

sgentle wrote: post #8

I'm reminded of what Richard Dawkins had to say about the Bicameral Mind book: "either complete rubbish or a work of consummate genius, nothing in between!" This website is really rough, the writing is dense and the first rule of video club is don't get one of the founders to narrate the video unless your CTO is Morgan Freeman. That said, I think this is just so unbelievably audacious that it's worth a look anyway. T…

Only related because you mentioned it, but...I found the bicameral mind book to be an amazing read. I often found myself sitting and thinking for a long time after reading certain paragraphs.

some interesting quotes I found: http://i.imgur.com/K90ovG6.png

Re: Try emergent coding

#22

Post by protexilu » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 6:58 PM UTC

md_ wrote: post #5

Holy fuck, that reads like something written by TimeCube Guy. I guess the real example is this one: "For example, the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent, when contracted, will design the code that will compare two strings. At first glance, a developer may see that title and assume that the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent will actually compare one given string against another, but in actual fact, the compare::byt…

it's like having functions, but with someone to write the function for you. The thing with the market is that you'd know that the code you get is verifiably accurate and thus, your software will have no bugs.

Re: Try emergent coding

#23

Post by edblarney » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 7:22 PM UTC

sgentle wrote: post #8

I'm reminded of what Richard Dawkins had to say about the Bicameral Mind book: "either complete rubbish or a work of consummate genius, nothing in between!" This website is really rough, the writing is dense and the first rule of video club is don't get one of the founders to narrate the video unless your CTO is Morgan Freeman. That said, I think this is just so unbelievably audacious that it's worth a look anyway. T…

"Either complete rubbish or a work of consummate genius, nothing in between!"

It's very kind of you, but this is clearly the former.

Can some try to have built a simple 'online calculator' - you know, with buttons, square-roots, logs. etc.

Anybody?

No?

A practical demo?

Re: Try emergent coding

#24

Post by prashnts » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 7:52 PM UTC

protexilu wrote: post #22

md_ wrote: post #5

Holy fuck, that reads like something written by TimeCube Guy. I guess the real example is this one: "For example, the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent, when contracted, will design the code that will compare two strings. At first glance, a developer may see that title and assume that the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent will actually compare one given string against another, but in actual fact, the compare::byt…

it's like having functions, but with someone to write the function for you. The thing with the market is that you'd know that the code you get is verifiably accurate and thus, your software will have no bugs.

That function might be accurate, but its usage might not be. It's a bold (and possibly incorrect) claim that the software composed of accurate units will not have any bugs.

Re: Try emergent coding

#25

Post by strictfp » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 7:54 PM UTC

protexilu wrote: post #22

md_ wrote: post #5

Holy fuck, that reads like something written by TimeCube Guy. I guess the real example is this one: "For example, the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent, when contracted, will design the code that will compare two strings. At first glance, a developer may see that title and assume that the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent will actually compare one given string against another, but in actual fact, the compare::byt…

it's like having functions, but with someone to write the function for you. The thing with the market is that you'd know that the code you get is verifiably accurate and thus, your software will have no bugs.

So, if the signature is fixed, why not just write the function and ship it in something like, i don't know, a standard library? ;)

Re: Try emergent coding

#26

Post by adjkant » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 8:34 PM UTC

This idea is crazy, and if distilled properly, could do a ton. This iteration is most certainly not going to be a part of it. I suspect we are decades to centuries off of this being realized.

Why one decided to make a completely new vocabulary that feels incredibly inaccessible to even the technical audience is beyond me.

Re: Try emergent coding

#27

Post by new299 » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 8:45 PM UTC

I really feel like there is something genuinely interesting here.

However I've read the main page, looked at 3 videos. Tried the demo... I still don't really understand what's going on.

Now, it is 6am and I've been up all night working on a project. But if I'm really trying to understand what's going on and it's not clicking /at all/ then it probably means there's a problem with either the description or the model itself.

Re: Try emergent coding

#28

Post by GnarfGnarf » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 8:57 PM UTC

If you develop an app based on this network of contractors, how can you be sure they'll always be around to support your app? Do you make a local copy of the foreign app? What if they increase their fees and hold you up for ransom?

Re: Try emergent coding

#29

Post by duckingtest » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 9:30 PM UTC

Awesome idea, was thinking about something like that for a long time. Not sure about implementation though. You can define algorithmic problems in a declarative way, but what about the rest, ie. 99% of actual work? Like a website. To verify that a result is good would require a human-level ai.

Instead of a hello world example in a video I would like to see a high-level example for something really complex, like:

"The site you're currently viewing is served by a web-server that was designed and built by this network of agents in 12 minutes."

ok then, how high level and reusable that code actually is? Show it.

Re: Try emergent coding

#30

Post by md_ » Mon, Dec 26, 2016, 1:52 AM UTC

protexilu wrote: post #22

md_ wrote: post #5

Holy fuck, that reads like something written by TimeCube Guy. I guess the real example is this one: "For example, the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent, when contracted, will design the code that will compare two strings. At first glance, a developer may see that title and assume that the compare::bytesequence::lesser agent will actually compare one given string against another, but in actual fact, the compare::byt…

it's like having functions, but with someone to write the function for you. The thing with the market is that you'd know that the code you get is verifiably accurate and thus, your software will have no bugs.

OK, I have to walk back my (lightly jerkish) snark, I think. ;)

Do you mean "someone" as in the author of the template? Or as in the template itself?

What are the specific limitations of agents? What can they do? How are they written?