Related papers: Boris (Boaz) Trakhtenbrot -- The Beginning
Daring predictions of the proximate future can establish shared discursive frameworks, mobilize capital, and steer complex processes. Among the prophetic visions that encouraged and accompanied the development of new communication…
Every society has a story rooted in its most ancient traditions, of how the earth and sky originated. Most of these stories attribute the origin of all things to a Creator - whether God, Element or Idea. We first recall that in the Western…
We venture that the long evolution of science may be viewed as unfolding over three blurred epochs. The first epoch spans the slow, haphazard, error-ridden realization of scientific truths along with foundational scientific methods. The…
``The purpose of life is to obtain knowledge, use it to live with as much satisfaction as possible, and pass it on with improvements and modifications to the next generation.'' This may sound philosophical, and the interpretation of words…
This note is based upon a talk given at a celebration in Austin Texas of the achievements of J. Willard Gibbs. J. Willard Gibbs, the younger, was the first American physical sciences theorist. He was one of the inventors of statistical…
This Introduction opens the book {\sl Standing Together in Troubled Times} which presents a story of friendship between Wolfgang Pauli, one of the greatest theoretical physicists of the 20th century, and Charlotte Houtermans. They met at…
Why is it interesting to try to understand the origin of the universe? Everything we observe today, including our existence, arose from that event. Although we still do not have a theory that allows us to describe the origin itself, the…
What would you teach if you had only one course to help students grasp the essence of computation and perhaps inspire a few of them to make computing a subject of further study? Assume they have the standard college prep background. This…
Leo Breiman was a highly creative, influential researcher with a down-to-earth personal style and an insistence on working on important real world problems and producing useful solutions. This paper is a short review of Breiman's extensive…
This manifesto provides a vision of how computers can be used to bring people together, to enhance people's use of their natural creativity, and thus, make them happier.
This piece plays with the idea of the Computocene: an era defined not merely by the ubiquity of computers, but by their deepening role in how we observe, interpret, and make sense of the world. Rather than emphasizing automation, speed,…
A recollection of special moments spent with Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich and with the scientists of Soviet Union and abroad.
Using information technology, humans have brought about the Information Revolution, which is changing the world faster and more profoundly than ever before. How is this possible? An answer is suggested by comments of James Moor, regarding…
One of the main uses of computers is to do statistical analysis of data. But, so far, the theory of statistics, and its noble mother, Probability theory, were all discovered and developed by lowly humans. No more! Computers can also develop…
The mid-17th century saw unprecedented scientific progress. With the Middle Ages well and truly over, the Scientific Revolution had begun. However, scientific advancement does not always proceed along well-planned trajectories. Chance…
The laptops, cell phones, and internet applications commonplace in our daily lives are all rooted in the idea of zeros and ones - in bits. This foundational element originated from the combination of mathematics and Claude Shannon's Theory…
This article stands as a tribute to the enduring legacy of Jacob Ziv and his landmark contributions to information theory. Specifically, it delves into the groundbreaking individual-sequence approach -- a cornerstone of Ziv's academic…
Since the Turing test was first proposed by Alan Turing in 1950, the primary goal of artificial intelligence has been predicated on the ability for computers to imitate human behavior. However, the majority of uses for the computer can be…
In 1994, I came to Berkeley and was fortunate to stay there three years, first as a postdoctoral researcher and then as Neyman Visiting Assistant Professor. For me, this period was a unique opportunity to see other aspects and learn many…
This paper was presented on the occasion of an honorary doctoral degree for Henryk Wozniakowski at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany on June 6, 2008. Information-based complexity (IBC) is the study of algorithms and…