This film is about an idea.
And idea we call the polymorphic concept of data processing system design
which is a complicated name for an idea
but the idea itself isn't so complicated
when you think of it in terms of how people get machines to help solve their
problems.
Now if you have a problem to be computed you take it to a computer
and as your problems get bigger.
You need a bigger computer as more and more guys like you have problems to solve.
They take turns on the computer which isn't so bad if the computer is fast enough.
Which it can be if it is big enough and expensive enough
but as the number of guys
and the number of problems increase the machine gets Isn't
that a waste because while one guy is using the computer to sounds an easy problem
which may only be taking one thousands of the computer.
Everyone else has to wait on that she spends still more money
and buy a still bigger computer.
But worse if one piece fades the old computer will probably quit.
Even though most of it is perfectly good ready
and willing to work much around here to start with if
you look inside. You see that it isn't just one solid hunk of computer.
A lot of individual parts and circuits which each have specialized functions.
Now it would be nice if someone would divide
that huge computer into little parts and solder the connections so
that everybody could get a chance to use the parts in the needs for his particular
problem.
Next you will want to organize things a little not in the usual way.
But the brain the computer part not only supervises everything.
But also insists on doing a large share of the detail work.
What you want is more delegation
and more easygoing cooperative relationship between all the parts so
that they can associate freely and directly with one another in various ways.
Isn't this a lot of fun actually.
Of course the electronic boxes don't make a nice flexible automatic switchboard
connection like the telephone
that way the computer box is the real brains of the system don't have to waste
their time
and talent acting like telephone operators trying to handle every single message
person.
They can stick to computing
and let the other boxes do them such as remembering a large number of facts
or sending messages from one box to another carrying out simple logical routines
and so each computer box doesn't have to be so big.
This is distributed control distributed memory distributed arithmetics.
Distributed everything
and it makes sense because no more than one guy can be using the system at the same
time a number of these are problems and
when those occasional crash problems come along your system can reconnect itself in
a matter of microseconds to get them.
Big jobs done as well as an ordinary giant computer.
And if one box quits.
It's no great catastrophe the system just automatically switches the job to another
box.
If you find yourself getting the business signal to us from you by mode of exactly
the kind of boxes you need.
That's like adding on new subscribers as they move it
or you can add more displays so that more people can see what goes on.
Suppose your problem calls for a lot of detailed work to do most of the time
when you buy boxes to give you all the memory or messenger service
or whatever else you meet on the other hand if your problems are mostly heavy duty
brain. You can load your system up with computer boxes
when you really needed
and can prove you need it you can put together a big system
or even a really big overinvesting early
or throwing anything away or starting from scratch again.
So you save money and all the while you have better reliability multiple use
and better access.
You can even switch together to complexes three
or four by commission by telephone system
or you can connect in one of those ordinary giant computers as a subscriber if you
go for a super system and this doesn't mean
that you end up with one big party you can keep some of the lines private eye
opening. If you switch is permanently.
So
that certain information won't be available to know the subscribers
and so now you see that it wasn't just exactly a computer you wanted
but a group of. Guys with brains and a group of boxes electronic brains
and console displays all connected together in varying ways
and growing together so
that the partnership can solve more problems than each group could solve by itself.
And this is all there is to the data processing concept known as polymorphic many
shape
or multiple mode for The Matrix comes from maybe just a common sense
which brought out during data processing system.
Now it just so happens
that Thompson has been working on the polymorphic idea for several years.
And in case you hadn't already guessed.
We have built the first actual polymorphic system.
If you are interested but a small.