1+1 =3

Marc LeBrun , Fixpoint, Inc., Novato

Stevenson Hall 1300
12:00 PM - 12:50 PM

“Incredible systems abound, but of pleasant construction or of a sensational kind.” – Jorge Luis Borges, “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.” We entertain the thesis that there are no bugs, only under-appreciated outputs. Probing familiar primitive operations at subatomic scales, we sketch an introductory natural history of some arithmetics from alternate universes. This in turn recommends more systematic spelunking in the wide dark space of programs, attending carefully to the whispering vox machine. (Note: While abstaining from inventing any allegedly New Kinds of Science, we cannot rule out possible wild discursions into the nature of knowledge and the future of culture.) As a concrete warm-up exercise, you are invited to contemplate what the simple expression x & -x computes for integral x.