I've been reading Werner Heisenberg's book Physics and Philosophy: the Revolution in Modern Science. He talks about how language is necessary for science. Until now science has used two languages: natural language and mathematics.
Now we have a new tool: programming languages. A programming language combines the precision of mathematics with the expressiveness of natural language and can be used to create a perceivable manifestation of a model; this allows the communication of concepts and models without need for language at all. This is a virtual world.
One may say that whatever we do with computers will suffer from "finiteness" and predictability not reflective of the real world, and that a computer program may be defined mathematically. I respond that the network introduces chance into the picture. Is it possible to always predict accurately what a ping time will be? I don't think so.
I think we have the ingredients for something significant.
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I've been thinking about a definition of Architecture which applies to computer science and IT as well as to physical projects such as buildings and bridges. Here's what I've come up with:
Architecture is the creation of a set of rules which, when followed by a group of actors, results in the construction of something persistent.
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Ever notice that the only metaphors we have for the workings of our minds are the machines we have constructed? Switches and gears...
Arkowitz
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