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Computer Science
Hypercomputing and computability
Non-classical computing: feasible versus infeasible.
Physics sets certain limits on what is and is not computable. These
limits are very far from having been reached by current technologies.
Whilst proposals for hypercomputation are almost certainly infeasible,
there are a number of non classical approaches that do hold
considerable promise. There are a range of possible architectures that
could be implemented on silicon that are distinctly different from the
von Neumann model. Beyond this, quantum simulators, which are the
quantum equivalent of analogue computers, may be constructable in the
near future.
A Hardware
Relaxation Paradigm for Solving NP-Hard Problems Digital circuits
with feedback loops can solve some instances of NP-hard problems
by relaxation: the circuit will either oscillate or settle down to a
stable state that represents a solution to the problem instance. This
approach differs
from using hardware accelerators to speed up the execution of
deterministic
algorithms, as it exploits stabilisation properties of circuits with
feedback, and it
allows a variety of hardware techniques that do not have counterparts
in software. A
feedback circuit that solves many instances of Boolean satisfiability
problems is
described, with experimental results from a preliminary simulation
using a hardware
accelerator.
To
Infinity
and Beyond, joint paper with Greg Michaelson and Lewis Mackenzie,
Many attempts to transcend the fundamental limitations
to computability implied by the Halting Problem for Turing Machines
depend on the use of forms of hypercomputation that draw on
notions of infinite or continuous, as opposed to bounded or discrete,
computation. Thus, such schemes may include the deployment of
actualised rather than potential infinities of physical resources, or
of physical representations of real numbers to arbitrary precision.
Here, we argue that such bases for hypercomputation are not materially
realisable and so cannot constitute new forms of effective
calculability. A slightly amended version of this has now appeared in
the journal Theoretical Computer Science A.
Cantor diagonalisation and
planning,
by
Greg
Michaelson,
Allin
Cottrell and Paul Cockshott
Murphy (2006) recently argued that one could use the
diagonal argument of the number theorist Cantor to elucidate issues
that arose in the socialist calculation debate of the 1930s. We will
here argue that Murphy's argument has certain problems, both at the
number-theoretic level and from the standpoint of economic realism.
Are there new models
of
computation, an essay with Greg Michaelson arguing against recent
proposals for super Turing computation. A slightly amended version of
this has now appeared in the Computer Journal.
Boettke Syntax and the
Turing
Test,
a reply by Greg Michaelson, Allin Cottrell and I to a paper on
Methodology by Boettke which he published in Cahiers
D'Epistemolgie.
Information,
Work, and
Meaning an introduction to information theory by me and Greg
Michaelson, it relationship to thermodynamics and to classical
political economy with particular emphasis on how it applies to
industrial mass production.
Image processing
Von Neumann to Bloom:
useful
techniques with vector spaces, a seminar for post-grad students
showing how use of vector spaces spans image processing, information
retrieval, and economic growth theory.
Vector Quantisation
Based
Image Enhancement, Describes how to scale up digital cine images to
twice the original size, adding plausible fine detail.
Applying the
Grid to 3D capture technology Paper on the use of networks of
machines to process 3D TV information.
The use of Image Algebra
Paper that addresses the use of Image Algebra as a foundation for image
processing in the context of the IP -Racine project. Provides a general
introduction to Image Algebra for those unfamiliar to it.
CONFOCAL MICROSCOPIC IMAGE
SEQUENCE
COMPRESSION USING VECTOR QUANTIZATION AND 3D PYRAMIDS. Paper on the
technique developed by Yegang Tao and I to efficiently encode
microscope images for web distribution.
Experimental 3D TV studio,
appeared in IEE Computer Vision and Graphics, 2003.
MICROSCOPIC VOLUMETRIC IMAGE
DATA
COMPRESSION USING VECTORQUANTIZATION AND 3D PYRAMIDS
A Resolution
Independent Image Representation for Digital Cinema, standard
approaches to image and movie representation are proving inadequate in
the context of digital cinema. In particular, the use of the Discrete
Cosine Transform (DCT), as found in popular video formats, results in
visual artifacts that are unacceptable to the movie industry. This
describes a novel type of image and movie representation designed to
allow resolution-independent manipulation and achieve perceptually
lossless compression.
Optimal rate control for
compressed video. Looks at algorithm based on economic pricing
theory to improve quality of compressed video. A demonstration of this is available.
Fast
Fractal
Transform
Method
for
Data
Compression
:
rr-156-94 Describes
an improved algorithm that speeds up fractal image compression by 3
orders of magnitude. Allows fractal compression of 512x512 24 bit
colour images in less than 20 seconds. Published in Dr Dobbs Journal
#243
Algorithm for the
fast
construction of codebooks for hierarchical vector quantization We
present a recursive algorithm designed to construct quantization tables
and codebooks for the hierarchical vector quantization of images. The
algorithm is computationally inexpensive and yields high quality
codebooks. hvq/codebooks.html
A review of the image compression work
that I was involved in at the University of Strathclyde.
Programming Languages and Parallelism
Lino: a tiling language for
arrays
of processors Lino is language for tiling large arrays
of processor, in particular for multi-core. Lino is oriented to the
coordination and communication aspects of multi-processing, and is
otherwise implementation neutral, thus naturally facilitating the
composition of large systems from heterogeneous software components.
The need
for Lino is motivated, and Lino’s design and implementation are
surveyed.
Automatic SIMD/MIMD compilation
of tensor expressions A talk to be given at the tensor seminar in
Edinburgh in September 2009
Array Languages and the
Challenge
of Modern Computer Architecture, this reviews recent trends towards
greater parallelism in processor design and argues that only array
languages can meet the challenges these pose.
Final report:
merging
Single Assignment C and Vector Pascal technologies. Report on work done
on EPSRC grant EP/D/032423/1.
Efficient compilation of
array
expressions Paper in the APL Quote Quad journal discussing how to
compile APL like languages to vector machines.
Orthogonal Parallel
Processing, a paper by Greg Michaelson and I on the technology used
in Vector Pascal
The PGP grid Project.
A
report on JPI and on the parallelization of stereo matching.
The Jpi interface. A
description
of a proposed interface to GRID parallelism based on Milner's Pi
Calculus.
Vector Pascal -
an
array language Paper for the APL2002 conference.
Vector Pascal.html, or
as a pdf version. Vector Pascal is a
language designed to support elegant and efficient expression of
algorithms using the SIMD model of computation. It imports into Pascal
features derived from the functional languages APL and J, in particular
the extension of all operators to work on vectors of data. The type
system is extended to handle dimensional analysis. Code generation is
via the ILCG system that allows retargeting to multiple different SIMD
instruction sets based on formal description of the instruction set
semantics. For more details and other papers on this: see my compilers pages.
A survey of
architectures for memory resident databases:arch-10-93
Compressed
databases also
in postscript.
Quantum Relational
Databases
The approach given by Grover can be generalised to set an upper
complexity limit to the basic operations of relational databases on a
quantum computer. Except in special cases where indices can be used on
a classical machine, the quantum upper complexity limit is lower than
the classical one.
Realising
massively
concurrent
systems
on
the
space
machine
:
hdv-29-93
Use
of
high
speed
cellular
automata
to
simulate
road
traffic
:
hdv-27-93
A presentation of how the space machine can be applied to road traffic
simulation.
Direct compilation of
high
level languages to multi media instruction sets. Covers use of MMX,
3DNOW and SIMD instructions to obtain parallelism. Also available as HTML
E-Democracy
Extending
Electronic
Democracy to cover Budget decisions. A paper that describes how
multidimensional decisions about taxes and expenditure can be decided
in a consistent and secure way using mobile phone votes. There is a
growing realisation that the populace need to be consulted on a more
regular basis about issues that concern them. We address a particular
economic problem, that of national budgeting, and show how digital
technology can be applied in an understandable way in this domain. The
current situation is that governments are reluctant to conduct
plebiscites due to the expenses inherent in the traditional voting
model. Handivote is a system which allows maximal participation, using
a ubiquitous input mechanism, the mobile phone, to support
decision-making. In this paper we show how the Handivote system could
be extended to invite voter input into national economic decisions. Our
proposal includes an algorithm which maximises voter satisfaction in
the presence of budgetary constraints, and the preferences revealed by
the
vote.
Leadership Concepts and
Democracy A draft book chapter to be translated into Spanish.
It deals with the history of ideas of leadership in the socialist
movement from the critical standpoint of participatory democracy.
ELECTRONIC PLEBISCITES
Paper with Karen Renaud, We suggest a technology and set of procedures
by which a major democratic de?cit of modern society can be addressed.
The mechanism, whilst it makes limited use of cryptographic techniques
in the background, is based around objects and procedures with which
voters are currently familiar. We believe that systems like this hold
considerable potential for the extension of democratic participation
and control.
Electronic and
Athenian
Democracy, paper given at the Workshop on e-Voting and e-Government
in the UK, Feb 2006.
Books and Papers on
economics and information
The book Towards a New
Socialism discusses the use of computers in modern economic
planning. It can be ordered in English from The Bertrand
Russell Press. This is also published in Swedish and can be ordered
from www.manifest.se see also Clarte for a
Swedish review of the book. A German review
is available from Helmut
Dunkhase. German edition is being prepared and a Czech
translation is already on the web. Similar ideas were also arrived at
by the Bremen School for example Heinz Dieterich
Steffan and Arno
Peters who along with the German computer pioneer Zuse also worked
on the problem of applying computer planning to the whole economy.
Several of these are joint papers with Prof. Allin Cottrell of the
economics department of Wake Forest
University . Some related work is reported by Andy Pollack
,who reviews the current debate on computers and economic planning.
Also see Commissariat
général
du
plan who maintain a web page with links on
economic planning and the Robert
Owen
Institute.
Books
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Classical
Econophysics:
essays
in
thermodynamics,
information
theory
and
political
economy
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A
book
which
examines
the
domain
of
classical
political
economy
using
the
methodologies
developed
in
recent
years
both
by the new discipline of
econo-physics and by computing science.
The book begins by examining the most basic feature of economic life
– production – and asks what it is about physical laws
that allows production to take place. How is it that human labour is
able to modify the world?
It looks at the role that information has played in the process of mass
production and the extent to which human labour still remains a key
resource.
The Ricardian labour theory of value is re-examined in the light of
econophysics, presenting agent based models in which the Ricardian
theory of value appears as an emergent property. The authors present
models giving rise to the class distribution of income, and the long
term evolution of profit rates in market economies.
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Simd
Programming
Manual
for
Linux
and
Windows
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A
book
on
programming
in
Vector
Pascal,
a
language
that
I
developed
for
high
performance
image
processing.
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Transition
to
21st
century
socialism
in
the
European
Union
|
A book based
on a
socialist ecconomic response to the credit crisis that was put forward
at a conference in Berlin in Feb 2010
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Towards a New
Socialism |
English Edition of a book that has
subsequently appeared in several
languages (below).
It examines the extent to which modern super computer technology allows
both an efficient
system of planned economy and enhanced democratic control of society
using electronic voting. |
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Hacia un NUEVO SOCIALISMO |
Spanish
translation
published
in
Venezuela. |
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К новому социализму |
Russian
translation,
currently
on
the
web,
probably
due
for
publication. |
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Kybersocialismus |
The full text of the Czech
edition of our book with the long extended introduction we wrote for
this edition. |
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Sozialismus ist machbar |
Extended
German
translation
of
Towards
a
New
Socialism,
containing
the
Czech
introduction.
This
includes
certain
chapters
elided
from
the
German
edition
published
by
Papyrossa
( shown in picture). |
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Planhushållning
och
direktdemokrati
|
Denna
bok,
skriven
av
en
nationalekonom
och
en
datorforskare,
visar
inte
bara
att
ett
annat
sätt
är
möjligt
-
den
visar
också
hur
det rent konkret kan förverkligas med hjälp av modern
datakraft och det nätverksbyggande som brutit igenom i vår
tid.
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PS-Algol
Implementations
|
Describes
implementation
techniques
for
the
persistent
programming
language
PS-algol.
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A
Compiler Writer's Toolbox Interactive Compilers for PCs With Turbo
Pascal
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A
textbook
on
compiler
construction
showing
how
to
build
high
speed
interactive
compilers
after
the
idiom
of
the
Borland
compilers. The example
compiler is an implementation of PS-algol. The web link is to a version
of the book used as teaching notes here.
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Online Economics Papers
CREDIT
CRUNCH:
ORIGINS
AND ORIENTATION
PAUL COCKSHOTT AND DAVE ZACHARIAH , an article which looks at the
causes of the
credit crisis and how economic policy should respond to it.
Кредитна
криза:
Потекла
и
ориентација- [ Translate this page ] Macedonian translation of
the above article.
Supplementary chapters for
the draft French edition of Towards a New Socialism. These chapters
were written in 2008 for a proposed French edition, but the French
publisher withdrew after we had written the chapters. Since the
chapters relate to general updateing of the work, and as such may be of
interest to English language readers, I have made them available here.
Hilbert Space Models Commodity
Exchanges Abstract. It is argued
that the vector space measures used to mea-
sure closeness of market prices to predictors for market prices are
invalid
because of the observed metric of commodity space. An alternative
representation in Hilbert space within which such measures do apply is
proposed. It is shown that commodity exchanges can be modeled by the
application of unitary operators to this space.
LAS
COMPUTADORAS Y
LA
DEMOCRACIA ECONOMICA, paper given at conference in Quito 2003,
subsequently extended for publication in Revista de Economia
Institutional in 2008 also in English as
Computers and Economic Democracy.
Information and mass production
Babbage to Boltzman
Information theory whilst it grew out of the needs of the telecoms
industry, was built on foundations provided by 19th century
thermodynamics. Its domain of application has over the years been seen
to widen. This talk shows how information theory helps us understand
the key processes that made the industrial revolution possible, by
examining the close connection between entropy, information and
the technologies of mass production.
Ambedcar,
Baudrillard,
Buddhism
and
Socialism An extended introduction to a
proposed Indian edition of Towards a New Socialism that attempts to
situate our work with respect to the Buddhist Socialism of the famous
Dalit leader and intellectual Ambedcar.
Mises, Kantorovich and
Economic Computation An article that reviews the work of
Kantorovich in the light of von Mises claim
that rational calculations were impossible without markets. It gives a
tutorial
introduction to the use of Kantorovich's methods, compares his approach
to that of
Dantzig. An assesment is given of the extent to which new interior
point methods
of linear programming strengthen or weaken Kantorovich's claims.Russian
edition available as In
Natura
Calculation from Neurath to Kantorovich ( Расчёт в
натуральной форме, от Нейрата до Канторовича ).
21st
Century
Marxism it was written for Junge Welt, a German left daily, in
advance of a Berlin conference on Marxism for the 21st
Century
DE STORA SPRŎGEN
An
article examing capital accumulation in Britain since the late 19th
century and the implications this has for China. Published in the
Swedish journal Clarte An English language draft is available here and
has now appeared in English in the Bulletin of Political Economy.
Cantor Diagonalisation and
Planning,Murphy
(2006)
recently
argued
that
one could use the diagonal argument of the
number theorist Cantor to elucidate issues that arose in the socialist
calculation debate of the 1930s. We will here argue that Murphy's
argument has certain problems, both at the number theoretic level and
from the standpoint of economic realism.
Boettke Syntax and the
Turing Test,
a
reply
by
Greg
Michaelson, Allin Cottrell and I to a paper on
Methodology by Boettke which he published in Cahiers D’Epistemolgie.
Boettke is a prominent economist of the Austrian school.
Computers and the Economic
Calculation Debate, talk given in Jan 2006 in Berlin.
Application of
Artificial
Intelligence Techniques to Economic Planning (pdf), HTML version, Paper dates from the early
1990s but was recently OCRed by Helmut Dunkhase to make it accessible
over the web.
Information, Work,
and
Meaning an introduction to information theory by me and Greg
Michaelson, it relationship to thermodynamics and to classical
political economy with particular emphasis on how it applies to
industrial mass production.
What is at stake in the
debate
on value ( pdf version ). '> html
version. Paper outlines the empirical data on correlations between
labour values and prices and discusses various objections that have
been raised in the literature to these.
Demography and long term
profit
rates We discuss the original formulation of the theory of the
falling rate of profit by Marx and the criticisms of the theory’s
micro-foundations by Roemer. We then counterpose to this an alternative
macroeconomic interpretation in which the falling rate of profit is
driven by demographic factors. We follow this up with an examination of
why the assumptions made in Roemer’s analysis are empirically
unjustified. In particular we criticize his use of the average rate of
profit rather than the monetary interest rate as the regulator of
investment decisions. We conclude with an examination of the social
implications of a declining rate of profit.
Reflections on
economic
democracy, paper that is appearing in Research in Political Economy
A
Note on
the Significance of the Standard Commodity in Sraffa's System, a
joint paper with Ajit Sinha. The paper discusses the role of the
Standard Commodity as a numeraire. We argue that the heart of Sraffa’s
motivation for introducing the Standard Commodity was the dependence of
relative prices on technical conditions in the basic sector. We show,
by constructing a large class of worked examples that the direction of
price movements under technical change will be dependent on the
numeraire. If the choice of numeraire is arbitrary then so are the
relative movement directions of prices under technical change. Joint.pdf, Pretty print output of a program to
evaluate the hypothesis that the direction of movement of a commodities
price under technical change can be dependent on the numeraire. This is
the program used to evaluate the hypothesis discussed above. The Vector
Pascal source of the program is available as Joint.pas
Symmetries and exchange
relations,
Exploration
of
how
to
use metric space theory to develop the chartalist
theory of money.
Hunting productive work.
The
paper,
jointly
with
Dave
Zacharaih
summarises
the
definitions
of
productive
labour
derived
from
Smith
and
Marx.
It attempts to develop a
more general definition deriving from Sraffa's standard commodity and
the theory of relative surplus value. The implications of the new
definition for the examination of highly socialised capitalist
economies like Sweden are examined. .
Vector Space Metrics
in
Economics. Argues that capitalist economic activity can be modeled
by rotation operators acting on a Hilbert space.
The organic composition of
capital
and profit rates, Appeared 2003 in Cambridge Journal of Economics.
Shows that industries with high organic composition have low profit
rates. The source data for this is available to others as a spreadsheet ,that shows the rates of
profit by industry for the USA in 1987, against the organic composition
of capital for these industries. It shows, that counter to expectation,
industries with a high organic composition of capital have a low rate
of profit and vice versa. The spreadsheet is an excel one.
The
Scientific Status of the Labour Theory of Value, a paper which uses
Chaitin Kolmogorov complexity theory to evaluate the accuracy of the
predictions of different economic theories of valuee.
Value,
markets
and
socialism
Examines the very limited role for markets
in a socialist economy and the different form of appearance that value
( abstract labour ) has in such an economy.
Value's
Law Value's Metric: RR-94-168 An investigation into the metric
space generated by commodity exchange. Provides empirical data
comparing labour and electricity as the possible supports for this
metric space.
Notes on Dynamic Value
(pdf version) An attempt to come up with a simultaneist
value theory that handles fixed capital and technical change.
The declining rate of
profit and
technical change an examination of the effect of moral
depreciation on profit rates. An version in postscript is also available.
Testing
Marx:
Some
new
results
from
UK
data
This paper
was published in the Spring 1995 edition of Capital and
Class. It covers among other topics the degree to which industrial
output prices in the UK correspond to those predicted by labour values.
Corrections to the data originally published.
Value price
transformation as a
real process : rr-167-94 Published as "Does Marx Need to
Transform?", by Allin Cottrell and Paul Cockshott for a conference on
the centenary of the publication of Volume 3 of Marx's Capital, which
took place in Bergamo in December 1994. The paper argues, on an
empirical basis, that actual prices fall somewhere between the
untransformed labor values of Capital, Volume 1, and the prices of
production discussed by Marx in Volume 3.
Information and
economics A
critique of Hayek : rr-166-94 Written jointly with Allin Cottrell,
looks at the concept of information as presented by Hayek and compares
it with that used in modern information theory. It questions the extent
to which Hayeks economic conclusions are sustainable on information
theoretic grounds. Russian edition Information and
economics, (
Информация и экономика: критика Хайека)
An extended
and
updated
version of this paper was produced in 2007
that reinforced the original conclusions with recent results in
economic computability theory.
"Calculation,
Complexity
and
Planning:
The
Socialist
Calculation
Debate
Once
Again,"
by Allin Cottrell and Paul Cockshott,
published in ROPE, summer 1993. We present a counter-argument against
Mises' charge that rational economic calculation is impossible under
socialism (a charge recently revived by Don Lavoie). The paper also
considers other contributors to the Socialist Calculation Debate, such
as Oskar Lange.
"Socialist
Planning
after
the
Collapse
of
the
Soviet
Union", by Allin Cottrell
and Paul Cockshott, published in Revue Europeene des Sciences Sociales,
1993. We make the argument that what failed in the USSR was not
socialist planning as such, but a particular and definitely flawed
variant of same, and suggest the outlines of an alternative system of
planning. The paper is complementary to our 1993 book, "Towards a New
Socialism."
Realisation Crises and
the
Polarisation of Capital:cse-02-93 pdf
version
För
ett
genomskinligt
produktionssätt - W Paul Cockshott &
Allain Cottrell röda rummet 3-02 PDF
version
Russian editions of my papers
These are
articles or
papers of mine that have been reproduced and translated on Russian
language web sites.
Thanks to Yuriy
Zhilovets among others for doing this.
- Information and
economics, (
Информация и экономика: критика Хайека)
-
Scientific status of
the labour theory of value,
(Научный статус трудовой теории стоимости )
- Venezuela and new
socialism,
(Венесуэла и новый социализм)
- Towards
a
new
socialism
,
(
К
новому
социализму)
- In
Natura
Calculation
from
Neurath
to Kantorovich ( Расчёт в
натуральной форме, от Нейрата до Канторовича )
Assorted other papers are available on the Reality web site.
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