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Von Neumann invented a novel paradigm for computing using harmonic integration of analog oscillations. The patent was granted after his death. While there were a few prototypes in the 50s, the transistor killed it. A fully functional version of this computational architecture has never been built, to my knowledge: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2815488A/en
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's because we're lucky to live in a world where the cold war stayed cold, and LeMay and von Neumann were coming from half a century of the worst slaughter the world had ever seen.
We can be thankful that the likes of Eisenhower and later Kennedy, who lived through the very same times, recoiled from the prospect of initiating a greater slaughter than WW2.
For example, after Kennedy resigned himself to striking the sites in Cuba during the missile crisis it was someone else who told him he was wrong and reconsider. (see the documentary Fog of War)
To put a fine point on it, even after all the brinksmanship, analysis, diplomacy to resolve the Cuban missile crisis it was a long Soviet officer objecting to launch a nuclear armed torpedo in response to sounding depth charges (interpreted as an attack) from US ships. Pulling the trigger would have started a global thermonuclear war but it wasn't pulled, one officer decided that against a 2/3 vote in favor.
"Later that same day, what the White House later called "Black Saturday," the US Navy dropped a series of "signaling depth charges" (practice depth charges the size of hand grenades[114]) on a Soviet submarine (B-59) at the blockade line, unaware that it was armed with a nuclear-tipped torpedo with orders that allowed it to be used if the submarine was damaged by depth charges or surface fire.[115] As the submarine was too deep to monitor any radio traffic,[116][117] the captain of the B-59, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, decided that a war might already have started and wanted to launch a nuclear torpedo.[118] The decision to launch these required agreement from all three officers on board, but one of them, Vasily Arkhipov, objected and so the nuclear launch was narrowly averted."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
There are plenty of examples where, basically, a roll of the dice saved civilization during the cold war. The destruction of society during the cold war was prevented by luck as much as anything else.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe you should study game theory
Their reasoning was based on the idea that a war with the Soviets was inevitable and that the US should attack before it lost the strategic advantage - given that there was no war are you actually arguing that they were correct?
> In 1945, von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture, Do note that he proposed a description but it wasn't his idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Draft_of_a_Report_on_the... > some on the EDVAC design team contended that the stored-program concept had evolved out of meetings at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering…
He also posthumously patented a "non-von Neumann" architecture that has never been built, to my knowledge. I'm surprised that all the attention on quantum computing hasn't revived the idea. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2815488A/en
Based on what I could see from the patent, it looks like an exploration of using such elements in place of (then) vacuum tubes; it also seems like it might also use non-linear properties; somewhat of an "analog computer" in a way.
There also seem to be hints at these elements being used in an "artificial neuron" manner (hardware-based artificial neural networks and neurons were a topic of interest at the time).
Strangely (I may have missed it - I only skimmed the patent) the use of the transistor seems to be missing (again, not sure)...but if this is true, it may be because again - it seems to be exploring non-linear storage and response as memory and computational elements.
The ideas of using - say - capacitive and inductive elements for memory elements (at a minimum) was known back then; it was also known how to use inductive-only elements for amplification and switching purposes (google "magnetic amplifiers" - the tech goes back a long way). But this patent seems to be using both in a different manner for a combination computation and memory (again, similar to an artificial neuron).
It's a very interesting patent; in a similar scope as to Turing's writings on neural network systems. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
"Von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us." - Edward Teller See [0] for a demonstration. I watched a documentary from the 80ies a long time ago. A mathematician (can't remember his name) who worked with von Neumann in Los Alamanos was interviewed. He described von…
It feels terrible. When I first experienced it, I was terrified that it would be permanent because that would keep me from doing my job and keeping up with my interests and hobbies. Now I only get this brain-fog every so often. I think it helps me communicate with people better and has helped me learn patience. I finally understand how some people might be genuinely, earnestly trying to understand what I'm trying to say or teach, but can't understand it because I'm communicating it at the right level of analysis.
If you're intellectually gifted (many programmers are), you shouldn't take that for granted. You got lucky, and if you weren't lucky enough to be intelligent, it might have been impossible to do the same kind of work you do today. Please appreciate that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This quote perfectly illustrates the unparalleled absurdity of contemplating nuclear warfare.
He was hardly alone if favouring a "preventative war" - Curtis LeMay was another advocate - they thought it was the rational thing to do. How someone can rationally advocate the cold blooded killing of millions is, frankly, completely beyond me.
Can anyone recommend readings on von Neumann that highlight his non-mathematical achievements? Obviously he was primarily a physicist and mathematician, but for a non-mathematician, the long list of academic publications is hard to interpret and appreciate. For example, more in the vein of these: - Reportedly, von Neumann possessed an eidetic memory, and so was able to recall complete novels and pages of the phone di…
If he was able to recall ~entire pages of the phone directory on command, I wonder if he could also recall (near) verbatim text of all the novels he had ever read, to what degree he could do this, or to what degree he could at least comprehensively recall key points, facts, timelines.
I would think he would have spent some time speculating on how the brain stores memories, I wonder if any of his theories were ever captured in some form.
What are the equations that govern an atomic bomb? I don't want to say that I am asking for a friend... /s
I assume that by now the relevant equations would be well known anyway?
> In 1945, von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture, Do note that he proposed a description but it wasn't his idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Draft_of_a_Report_on_the... > some on the EDVAC design team contended that the stored-program concept had evolved out of meetings at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering…
He also posthumously patented a "non-von Neumann" architecture that has never been built, to my knowledge. I'm surprised that all the attention on quantum computing hasn't revived the idea. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2815488A/en
[1] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1401.5504.pdf
[2] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1403.6423.pdf
[3] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0e4e/237bf8b39600de05732d0b...
[4] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7383477
[5] http://snf.ieeecsc.org/file/8506/download?token=StMHBjkP
> Needless to say, von Neumann‘s main contributions to the atomic bomb would not be as a lieutenant in the reserve of the ordnance department, but rather in the concept and design of the explosive lenses that were needed to compress the plutonium core of the Fat Man weapon that was later dropped on Nagasaki. What are the equations that govern an atomic bomb? I don't want to say that I am asking for a friend... /s I a…