Re: virus: Rationality

zaimoni@ksu.edu
Wed, 5 Mar 1997 17:19:22 -0600 (CST)


On Tue, 25 Feb 1997 jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com wrote:

> Alex Williams wrote:

[CLIP]

> > With what do you interpret memes if not with other memes?
>
> Point.
>
> In fact, one could model it as an OS, drawing on a database. The database contains
> the information (memes), and the OS runs on small commands (also memes) to
> interpret the infomation in the database! Wow, I like that analogy.

Actually, it can be more interesting. Consider an interpreter for a
programming language where there is a weak distinction between commands
and data [namely, ML or LISP; ML has it, but it supports infinite
recursion without stack crash. LISP *does* execute its own data!]

In other words, the execution of each line of code literally alters the
data/code being executed. [at abstract level. For assembly-level, this
is truly dangerous....]

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
/
/ Kenneth Boyd
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////