Cooperative Phenomena in Data Processing
Rolf W. Landauer, James W. F. Woo · 1973
Classical physics was based on the presumption that there is a universe following exact laws of motion. This viewpoint allowed for the fact that we were able to measure that universe only imperfectly; this was presumed to be a human failure, and by the use of diligence, the failure could be arbitrarily diminished. The physicist has now learned, first through relativity, and more clearly through quantum mechanics, that the measurement process is not an idealizable entity separate from the laws of the real physical world. As far as the calculational process is concerned, the physicist has been less perceptive. The prevalent assumption has been that through the use of enough graduate students any calculation becomes feasible. Any calculational routine is presumed to be significant and meaningful, regardless of our physical ability to execute it. The advent of the modern computer has, perhaps, served to further remove the calculational process from the physicist’s direct detailed awareness, and thereby aggravated the physicist’s lack of attention to the subject. One clear exception is P. W. Bridgman, who in his writings recognized that the totality of physical operations relevant to science included “paper and pencil operations”[1–3].