Computer missing links
Many computer evolutionists would like to see a continuous and uninterupted
progression from one program to another. The simple truth of the matter
is that this is not found in software and neither is it found in hardware.
The reality of the way computers evolve is that new forms of hardware
and software appear fully formed and functional.
So what is a computer missing link? As an example, consider a compiler that
compiles Pascal code. We know that this evolved before the C compiler. The C
language is a lot like Pascal, and the computer missing link is the
hypothetical compiler that compiled something between Pascal and C into
working programs.
It is difficult to concieve what this compiler would have been, since
it would have compiled neither Pascal nor C. Of course, the exact semantics of
the language between Pascal and C are not known.
There are a number of theories about missing links:
- Spontaneous generation - this proposes that the new form (a C compiler)
arose spontaneously from the old form (a Pascal compiler). The usual
mechanisms of spontaneous generation apply (mainly sheer good luck).
- Scarcity of intermediates - the reason missing links are missing is
not that they are not there - it's just that they are incredibly
scarce. Because the link between two useful forms is not useful in
itself, it tends to experience natural selection at a much higher rate,
which explains why we have never found one in a known computer system.
Because the feature which will be evolved is so useful, the
intermediate form somehow survives natural selection in the present
in order to benefit in the future.
- Common ancestry - instead of addressing the problem of links between
computer hardware and software, some computer evolutionary theorists
propose that both the original form (a Pascal compiler) and the
new form (a C compiler) evolved from an unknown and undocumented
common ancestor. Since the link is then between a known and an unknown
rather than between two known quantities, it is more scientific.
As computer evolutionists, we do not like to say that any true fellow
computer evolutionist is clearly off their rocking chair, so the current
consensus is that all of the above theories are correct, and that even though
each one is flawed, they are together sufficient to explain the missing links
between forms of computer hardware and software.
Of course, no discussion of missing links is complete without mentioning a list
of so-called missing link problems, all of which can be solved by reference to
the explanations above. Click here for
the list.
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