Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!dg!Publius
From: Publius@dg.dg.com (Publius)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: The Sixth Generation
Message-ID: <422@dg.dg.com>
Date: 2 May 90 16:13:29 GMT
References: <76700193@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: publius@dg-pag.webo.dg.com (Publius)
Organization: Data General, Westboro, MA.
Lines: 31

In article <76700193@p.cs.uiuc.edu> gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>
>Monday, April 30, 1990			Champaign-Urbana News Gazette
>
>	JAPAN TO PUSH COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
>
>  TOKYO (NYT) - The japanese government is developing plans for a
>concerted attack on a highly promising advanced computer technology in
>which the United States now holds a substantial lead.
>  The technology is known as massively parallel processing, ...


By the time they come up with something, the underlining technology of
computers may have changed to something completely different, such as
optical devices, or things made of superconducting material, and a
complete revision of computer architecture may be necessary then, and
the results coming out of "Sixth Generation" project most likely will
turn out to be out-of-date and useless.  There is no way to tell how
those emerging technology will take shape and how they will have impact
on the designs of computers.  Thus, I do not believe the kind of
grand "Sixth Generation" project will produce anything meaningful.
Good design and architecture come from the "chaos" of competing designs,
try-and-errors, creativity of individuals, when an underlining technology
begins to take shape.  And the invisible hand of Adam Smith will make
sure that the best architecture comes out on top.

-- 
Disclaimer: I speak (and write) only for myself, not my employer.

Publius     "Old federalists never die, they simply change their names."
publius@dg-pag.webo.dg.com