Background
Hillis, Danny W. was born on September 25, 1956 in Baltimore. Son of William and Argye (Briggs) Hillis.
(Starting with an account of how computers are built and w...)
Starting with an account of how computers are built and why they work, Daniel Hillis describes what they acn and cannot do - at the resent time - before explaining how a computer can surpass its programmer, and finally, the quest for a thinking machine.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0297815415/?tag=2022091-20
(The world was shocked when a computer, Deep Blue defeated...)
The world was shocked when a computer, Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov, arguably the greatest human chess player ever to have lived. This remarkable victory, and other, more day-to-day innovations, beg serious questions: what are the limits of what computers can do? Can they think? Do they learn? Discussions of these questions tend to get muddled because most people have only the vaguest idea of how computers actually work. This book explains the inner workings of computers in a way that does not require a profound knowledge of mathematics nor an understanding of electrical engineering. Starting with an account of how computers are built and why they work, W. Daniel Hillis describes what they can and cannot do -- at the present time - before explaining how a computer can surpass its programmer and, finally, where humanity has reached in its quest for a true Thinking Machine.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0753812622/?tag=2022091-20
( Most people are baffled by how computers work and assum...)
Most people are baffled by how computers work and assume that they will never understand them. What they don’t realizeand what Daniel Hillis’s short book brilliantly demonstratesis that computers’ seemingly complex operations can be broken down into a few simple parts that perform the same simple procedures over and over again. Computer wizard Hillis offers an easy-to-follow explanation of how data is processed that makes the operations of a computer seem as straightforward as those of a bicycle.Avoiding technobabble or discussions of advanced hardware, the lucid explanations and colorful anecdotes in The Pattern on the Stone go straight to the heart of what computers really do. Hillis proceeds from an outline of basic logic to clear descriptions of programming languages, algorithms, and memory. He then takes readers in simple steps up to the most exciting developments in computing todayquantum computing, parallel computing, neural networks, and self-organizing systems.Written clearly and succinctly by one of the world’s leading computer scientists, The Pattern on the Stone is an indispensable guide to understanding the workings of that most ubiquitous and important of machines: the computer.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/046502596X/?tag=2022091-20
Hillis, Danny W. was born on September 25, 1956 in Baltimore. Son of William and Argye (Briggs) Hillis.
Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1978. Master of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1980. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988.
Co-founder Terrapin, Inc. Founder Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1983—1995, DHSH, 1995. Disney Fellow Walt Disney Company, 1996.
Vice president Research and development Walt Disney Imagineering, 1996—2000. Co-founder, co-chairman, chief technical officer Applied Minds, Inc., Glendale, California, since 2000. Adjunct professor Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab.
Co-chairman The Long Now Foundation. Member science board The Santa Fe Institute. Member technical advisory committee Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute.
Member advisory board Yale University Institute for Biospheric Studies. Consultant to American Telephone & Telegraph Company, Xerox, Kodak, Schlumberger, International Business Machines Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Screaming Media, Ejemoni, Alexa Internet, and Direct Medical Knowledge. Advisor, United States Government and serves on Presidential Information Technology Advisory committee.
Board director Hertz Foundation.
(Starting with an account of how computers are built and w...)
(The world was shocked when a computer, Deep Blue defeated...)
( Most people are baffled by how computers work and assum...)
Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences, Association Computing Machinery (Thesis award 1985, Grace Murray Hopper award 1989), International Leadership Forum. Member Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Association Artificial Intelligence, National Academy of Engineering.
Married Patricia Hillis, March 14, 1987. Children: Asa, Noah, India.