1.1 Framing the question
Throughout what is now the more than 50-year history of the computer a
great number of theories have been advanced regarding the contribution this
machine would make to changes both in the structure of society and in ways
of thinking.
Like other theories regarding the future, these should also be taken with a
pinch of salt. The history of the development of computer technology
contains many predictions which have failed to come true and many
applications which have not been foreseen.
While we must reserve judgement as to the question of the impact on the
structure of society and human thought, there is no reason to wait for history
when it comes to the question: what are the properties which could give the
computer such far-reaching importance?
The present book is intended as an answer to this question.
The fact that this is a theoretical analysis is due to the nature of the subject.
No other possibilities are available because such a description of the properties
of the computer must be valid for any kind of application. An additional demand
is that the description should be capable of providing an account of the
properties which permit and limit these possible applications, just as it must
make it possible to characterize a computer as distinct from a) other machines
whether clocks, steam engines, thermostats, or mechanical and automatic
calculating machines, b) other symbolic media whether printed, mechanical, or
electronic and c) other symbolic languages whether ordinary languages,
spoken or written, or formal languages.
This triple limitation, however, (with regard to other machines, symbolic media
and symbolic languages) raises a theoretical question as it implies a
meeting between concepts of mechanical-deterministic systems, which stem
from mathematical physics, and concepts of symbolic systems which stem from
the description of symbolic activities common to the humanities. The
relationship between science and the humanities has traditionally been seen
from a dualistic perspective, as a relationship between two clearly separate
subject areas, each studied on its own set of premises and using its own
methods. In the present case, however, this perspective cannot be maintained
since there is both a common subject area and a new - and specific - kind of interaction between physical and symbolic processes.