tav · November 1, 2013 16:51
diff --git a/Gelernter-Mirror-Worlds.txt b/Gelernter-Mirror-Worlds.txt
 "Consider an upward-stretching network of infomachines tethered together, rung-upon-rung (billowing slightly in the breeze?) No two rungs need have exactly the same number of machines.... There might be ten rungs in all or hundreds or thousands, and the average rung might have anywhere from a handful to hundreds of members. This architecture spans a huge range of shapes and sizes....

 So, these things are "tethered together" -- meaning? Those lines are lines of communication. Each member of the Trellis is tethered to some lower-down machines and to some higher-ups.... A machine deals only with the machines to which it is tethered. So far as it's concerned, the rest don't exist. It deals with inferiors in a certain way and superiors in a certain other way, and that's it....

 Information rushes upward through the network, and the machines on each rung respond to it on their own terms.... Each machine focuses on one piece of the problem -- on answering a single question about the thing out there...that is being monitored. Each machine's entire and continuous effort is thrown into answering its one question. You can query a machine at any time -- what's the current best answer to your particular question? -- and it will produce an up-to-the-second response....

 So data flows upward through the ensemble; there's also a reverse, downward flow of what you might call "anti-data" -- inquiries about what's going on. A high ranking element might attempt to generate a new value, only to discover it's missing some key datum from an inferior. It sends a query downward.... The inferior tries to come up with some new data.... If a bottom-level machine is missing data,.... It can ask the outside world directly for information....

 The fact that data flows up and anti-data flows downwards means that, in a certain sense, a Trellis can run either forwards or backwards, or both at the same time....

 A Trellis, it turns out, is a lot like a crystal.... When you turn it on, it vibrates at a certain frequency.

 Meaning? In concept, each Trellis element is an infomachine. All these infomachines run separately and simultaneously.

 In practice, we do things somewhat differently....

 We run the Trellis in a series of sweeps. During the first sweep, each machine gets a chance to [produce one output value]. During the second, each [produces a second value], and so on. No machine [produces] a second [value] until every [machine] has [produced] a first [value]."
	"Consider an upward-stretching network of infomachines tethered together, rung-upon-rung (billowing slightly in the breeze?) No two rungs need have exactly the same number of machines.... There might be ten rungs in all or hundreds or thousands, and the average rung might have anywhere from a handful to hundreds of members. This architecture spans a huge range of shapes and sizes....

	So, these things are "tethered together" -- meaning? Those lines are lines of communication. Each member of the Trellis is tethered to some lower-down machines and to some higher-ups.... A machine deals only with the machines to which it is tethered. So far as it's concerned, the rest don't exist. It deals with inferiors in a certain way and superiors in a certain other way, and that's it....

	Information rushes upward through the network, and the machines on each rung respond to it on their own terms.... Each machine focuses on one piece of the problem -- on answering a single question about the thing out there...that is being monitored. Each machine's entire and continuous effort is thrown into answering its one question. You can query a machine at any time -- what's the current best answer to your particular question? -- and it will produce an up-to-the-second response....

	So data flows upward through the ensemble; there's also a reverse, downward flow of what you might call "anti-data" -- inquiries about what's going on. A high ranking element might attempt to generate a new value, only to discover it's missing some key datum from an inferior. It sends a query downward.... The inferior tries to come up with some new data.... If a bottom-level machine is missing data,.... It can ask the outside world directly for information....

	The fact that data flows up and anti-data flows downwards means that, in a certain sense, a Trellis can run either forwards or backwards, or both at the same time....

	A Trellis, it turns out, is a lot like a crystal.... When you turn it on, it vibrates at a certain frequency.

	Meaning? In concept, each Trellis element is an infomachine. All these infomachines run separately and simultaneously.

	In practice, we do things somewhat differently....

	We run the Trellis in a series of sweeps. During the first sweep, each machine gets a chance to [produce one output value]. During the second, each [produces a second value], and so on. No machine [produces] a second [value] until every [machine] has [produced] a first [value]."