Programming the invisible

The US National Nanotechnology Initiative outlines 9 research development areas that, as they progress, will affect us all. This article outlines what some computers will look like within a few years, and how we will program a computer that we cannot see, no longer the realm of science fiction. Turing, in the 1930's, talked of a Universal Machine (UTM) able to solve any problem. Some years later von Neumann advocated a Universal Constructor (UC) that could build anything it was asked to do. Combining the two concepts leads to the most powerful computing milieu ever conceived.

My own interest in the area resulted from a comment on the Foresight Nanotech Institute web site which said "With Turing machines being conceptually simple, the design put forward by Bernard Hodson has relevance in nanotechnology in that we will want to get the simplest possible hardware running the smallest possible software....if construction command sequences can be compressed in a similar way, assembler control machinery could be greatly simplified". The assembler referred to here is a tiny machine placing atoms in particular locations, A nano-computer will be constructed atom by atom with software that can then be placed in the nano-computerer, enabling it to reproduce itself, For a nano-computer we are talking of transistor equivalents that are one atom wide, of wires which consist of a string of cells each with four ‘quantum dots', containing two electrons placed so as to define an on and off state. Information proceeds down the atomic wire by a state change of the four cells. Logic circuits are atomic structures, as are memory devices, one example using a carbon nano tube along with a buckyball. Logic elements are built with atomic structures.

The UTM of Turing's day required an infinite paper tape containing all required functions. Today, however, Turing's ideas have been developed in software and the end result will be a nano-machine which accepts and processes data, a fruition of his 1936 dream. The functions will be a long atomic string. Current UTM software, still fairly primitive, can run on any computer. It is a single piece of software that will be able to handle any problem given to it. This software has been demonstrated on a variety of existing computers, from super main frames down to microcontrollers. This software will be further expanded but is at a far more advanced stage than Java or Microsoft operating systems were in their early years. The UTM on a conventional computer uses little machine language, being almost entirely a numeric structure that never changes. The architecture for such a system is shown under the title of ‘a new kind of computing', available on several web sites.

What is the UTM in software? It consists of:
A relatively small set of function "genes", each of which is given a numerical code: A small set of tiny and independent machine logic elements, also given a numeric code: A compact command structure, each with an associated numeric code...

Each command is associated with a numeric string consisting of genes and needed logic functions. These control the run system. Apart from knowing the ethnic independent language commands there is no requirement for any application developer to know the numeric code structure. Applications consist of a string of commands (with associated parameters) being converted to a byte string. This string is numeric and can be developed by a simple translator. The byte string is processed by the run system..The system as described is a single piece of software and does not need any operating system. It eliminates the need for compilers, operating systems and languages.

The Nano-Computer
There are already Constructors to create a variety of physics, chemistry and medically oriented products. To create a nano-computer all that is needed is the construction of the atomic sized logic elements required by the UTM along with a list of the numeric codes of the function genes and commands. The application byte streams would be placed in an atomic string file equivalent to Turing's infinite tape. As the UTM is completely static this construct would be equivalent to building a fixed edifice that allows the ingress and egress of people (data)

Security
The UTM on conventional or nano computers offers a high degree of security. Because it is a static entity it offers no way for any outsider to introduce nefarious code, henc can be considered intrusion free. Because the nanocomputer is constructed by Constructors it is feasible to consider that a rogue Constructor could do damage to the UC/UTM. A solution to this probability would need to be addressed.