Paper: Propagation Networks: A Flexible and Expressive Substrate for Computation
Alexey Radul in his fascinating 174 page dissertation Propagation Networks: A Flexible and Expressive Substrate for Computation, offers to help us break free of the tyranny of linear time by arranging computation as a network of autonomous but interconnected machines. We can do this by organizing computation as a network of interconnected machines of some kind, each of which is free to run when it pleases, propagating information around the network as proves possible. The consequence of this freedom is that the structure of the aggregate does not impose an order of time. The abstract from his thesis is:
I present in this dissertation the design and implementation of a prototype general-purpose propagation system. I argue that the structure of the prototype follows from the overarching principle of computing by propagation and of storage by accumulating information—there are no important arbitrary decisions. I illustrate on several worked examples how the resulting organization supports arbitrary computation; recovers the expressivity benefits that have been derived from special-purpose propagation systems in a single general-purpose framework, allowing them to compose and interoperate; and offers further expressive power beyond what we have known in the past. I reflect on the new light the propagation perspective sheds on the deep nature of computation.
I really like the sound of all this, it seems like a good match for large scale distributed systems, but I have to admit in the end I didn't get it. Does anyone know of a more basic primer on this area of study?
