Always in awe to read about assemblies of great minds like at Princeton's IAS. Does another such assembly exist today? I don't think it does but want to know if others can point to one. Did it happen then because the discoveries were "low hanging" enough that they would be found eventually, such that today we've basically exhausted the major discoverable parts of nature given human limitations, like a depleting orebo…
>(or even specifically the Habsburgs's HRE where von Neumann was from)
It is not a coincidence that the "Martians" of Budapest, of which von Neumann was one, were all Ashkenazi Jewish. Societal and genetic pressures over centuries produced unusually high IQs (and some associated genetic problems). https://web.mit.edu/fustflum/documents/papers/AshkenaziIQ.jb...
The oral history of the person claiming credit was stolen from him is not a reliable source.
Mind that he repeatedly refers to Julian Biglow of the IAS as a (neutral) witness. There have been plenty of law suits regarding this… Probably, the same also applies to any commentary and/or writing by von Neumann.
Lawsuits? Unless you're talking personal suits, the only one I know of, Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, did not go well for Eckert or Mauchly, personally or professionally, especially Mauchly.
According to J. Presper Eckert in his oral history interview [1] the Moore School was actually collecting patent applications, when von Neumann went public with the report. Which is why principal computer architecture is in the public domain. And, according to Eckert, this was done with a purpose and in von Neumann's self-interest. He also accused von Neumann of having done similarly at the IAS. (According to von Neu…
Interesting if true but it seems odd to think that Von Neumann of all people in the 20th century perhaps would need to steal someone's ideas. From what I've read of him he was more likely to improve on them before the ideator had finished speaking. But certainly those were days (if indeed we have left them) when 'great men' like him could and would take credit for something like that for reasons of pride and posterit…
Eckert accused von Neumann specifically of doing so that he could consult for IBM on the matter.
However, there is a problem with this: As I understand it, IBM wasn't that interested in computers at the time and actually stumbled into (electronic digital) computing by a government contract for replicating Whirlwind for the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE). On the other hand, Eckert also pointed out some interest shown repeatedly by von Neumann in bringing in commercial third parties into the project, so it may have been concerning any third party which may be interested in his consultancy, and this then became historically IBM.
> von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture Well, he actually described an already existing design by Eckert and Mauchly under his name and this paper was illegally disclosed. For the ones interested in this and other fascinating stories about ENIAC, here is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Compu... ; worth reading is al…
Wow... How is this not more well known? It's not like von Neumann doesn't have plenty of other important contributions to his name.
It is far from settled whether the GP’s interpretation is in fact what actually happened. I highly recommend The Innovators by Walter Isaacson. Among other things, it covers this “controversy” in great detail.
Mind that he repeatedly refers to Julian Biglow of the IAS as a (neutral) witness. There have been plenty of law suits regarding this… Probably, the same also applies to any commentary and/or writing by von Neumann.
Lawsuits? Unless you're talking personal suits, the only one I know of, Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, did not go well for Eckert or Mauchly, personally or professionally, especially Mauchly.
My (moral) problems with von Neumann are of entirely different nature, namely his persistent advocacy for a "preemptive" nuclear first strike, before the USSR could roll out a thermonuclear bomb in production. Which might be regarded as attempted, cold-blooded genocide. So, not my personal hero.
My Dad knew and worked with von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. My Dad says nice things about him and mentioned eccentricities like working through the night and playing music loudly.
It staggers me that in an age of incredible innovation and technology- we still have no idea what biologically separates a man like this from the rest of us. I'd like to take the idyllic position of (somewhat irresponsibly) hoping that some level of genius can be fostered and created in anyone from a young age.. But when I read articles like this I feel the compulsive need to sit back in my chair and ponder just how…
László Polgár believed this and turned his daughters into chess prodigies.
> von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture Well, he actually described an already existing design by Eckert and Mauchly under his name and this paper was illegally disclosed. For the ones interested in this and other fascinating stories about ENIAC, here is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Compu... ; worth reading is al…
This isn't really true. There was no existing architecture and even if there was, Eckert and Mauchly weren't the only ones involved. ENIAC itself encapsulated almost none of the Von Neumann architecture principles. While it's true Von Neumann's paper started as a summary of ongoing discussions on computer architecture for the EDVAC with a group that included Eckert, Mauchly, Arthur Burks, and others, Von Neumann's pr…
Now the water is really muddy...
Is there a defitive book or wiki page for the whole thing regarding:
* Von Neumann's actual contribution to the so-called von Neumann architecture
> von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture Well, he actually described an already existing design by Eckert and Mauchly under his name and this paper was illegally disclosed. For the ones interested in this and other fascinating stories about ENIAC, here is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Compu... ; worth reading is al…
What a crime that such 22 year old memories are locked away in an amazon comment, to be lost whenever amazon deems it necessary to cull comments older than a certain age.
"Anybody who looks at living organisms knows perfectly well that they can produce other organisms like themselves. This is their normal function, they wouldn’t exist if they didn’t do this, and it’s not plausible that this is the reason why they abound in the world. In other words, living organisms are very complicated aggregations of elementary parts, and by any reasonable theory of probability or thermodynamics hig…
In this I disagree with von Neumann. The relevant phrase to understand my point of departure is "That which persists exists." There is a continuum of strategies for persistence and reproduction is only one of them. While thermodynamics over a large enough timescale dictates even disorder, over shorter timescales and in specific local it allows for the temporary increase in order. This is no more or less probable than any other arrangement. What's fundamentally fascinating is that there are forces which resist change. It is that resistance to change on the small scale that allows for the persistence of patterns on the large scale. Atoms resist change, persist and thus continue to exist. Molecules resist change. Crystal structures. Arrangements of molecules into cells. The patterns of behavior in individuals. There are layers upon layers of this same phenomenon of the ability to resist change via different strategies and inherent properties. Locally this means that there is an anti-entropic tendency built into the fabric of, and all subsequent layers or organization in the universe. It's bloody wonderful, but hardly improbable.