Fourth Annual Workshop

Thursday, August 22, 1996 npuc95@almaden.ibm.com

	"Machine Internet" Ed Fredkin CEO RadNet

	| Abstract | Biography |

Abstract The Internet is a phenomenon of people. One way or another, almost all of whatever information is put on the Internet has people as its source and people as its destination. We envision something new, MI, a network for machines. The idea is to provide the same kinds of functionality as the Internet except, instead of the users being people they will be machines (computers, airplanes, ships and other vehicles, chemical plants, power plants). This poses a number of constraints not true on the Internet. First of all, strong standards must be adopted in order to allow straightforward programs to make use of the information and second, the information and downloadable software and agents will all need to endure a process called "certification". We will illustrate uses of MI by giving two examples: the possibility of avoiding many kinds of disasters and the opportunity to increase efficiency. Programming today is much like programming was yesterday, except that much more of what is needed is already coded. In any case, the programmer still has to write code that defines what it is that the computer must do. In the 70's, there were dreams, as yet unrealized, of automatic programming where programs were to be created without programming. The topic of the talk is to relate the discovery that there is a limited application domain (the generalized area of process control; the control of machinery, computer networks or other real systems made up of more or less standardized components), that could allow for 100% automation of the programming task. This would mean that applications could be developed without any need to solve problems, define procedures or write rules; the task would merely consist of creating an accurate description of what the process or machinery is, along with a selection of standardized goals. The description would consist of a drawing containing all the parts, each labeled by vendor, model number and other specifications along with their interconnections. Biography Mr. Fredkin founded Information International Inc. and has served as the CEO of a diverse set of companies, including Information International Inc., Three Rivers Computer Corporation, New England Television Corporation (Boston's then Channel 7, the CBS affliliate) and others. Mr. Fredkin is also responsible for fundamental discoveries in computer science. His academic career includes a period as Director of the MIT Laboratory of Computer Science, and professorships at MIT, BU and CMU.

	Presented by Almaden Research Center - Computer Science and User System Ergonomics Research.
	This workshop has limited space and is open to contributors in related fields. If you would like to attend, please send a position statement to: npuc95@almaden.ibm.com by August 16, 1996.

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