탐색: 메타커런시 프로젝트를 찾아서 6 - Ceptr Revelation 읽기

※ 본 게시물의 목적, 취지, 이력에 대해선 맨 밑의 비고를 참조(Please go to the bottom to see the purpose, intention, and prior history of this typed reproduction of an original contribution by the MetaCurrency Project).

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제3절, What Makes Ceptr Work?

DISCLAIMERS:

For Geeks: Kudos for making it past those initial sections which may have seemed annoyingly naïve. If it was so easy to make everything work together, we'd already be doing it, right? We think there are some ^real reasons this hasn't happened before^, and why it is possible to make it work now. In this section, we will get into the technology and how Ceptr works, but as you've noticed this is not exactly a technical white paper. For deeper technical detail, we will link out to other supporting articles and resources. The structure of Ceptr may initially seem unfamiliar or disorienting, but our hope is [that] you'll find it worth the effort to try to re-orient yourself to its frame of reference so you can crank out some powerful solutions.

For Non-Geeks: You may have a strange advantage if you're not too deeply steeped in the way computers conventionally work. We hope to make the architecture of Ceptr understandable with examples of how these structures already work in physics and nature. Let us know if we miss the mark. We're trying to keep the technical gibberish in other places and just link to them from hee.

3.1 Distributed Fractal Receptors

One of the fundamental organizing units in Ceptr are Receptors. Receptors are kind of like super-lightweight virtual machines. Each one performs a particular niche in the computing ecosystem. {See MIT Webinar demo}

Since receptors can be set up to run inside another receptor, they can be organized fractally and can function on surprisingly different scales ranging from the level of what you might normally think of as functions (like a bubble sort, or keyword indexer), applications, programs, platforms, and operating systems (unifying multiple platforms and programs), to the level of the whole network itself.

RECEPTOR is what we based the name of the Ceptr platform on─from the Latin adjectival form of capere meaning “to catch; taken in; hold; be large enough for; comprehend.”

3.1.1 Our Receptor Breakthrough

One of our big breakthroughs in our system design came when we were looking at how to maximize composability. In contrast to our foray into XGFL, we wanted to be easy for everything to be functionally mashed together.

We were exploring language and how amazingly composable it is. How, from a traditional computer science perspective of starting with ontological units, the conversation we were having was all constructed out of a couple dozen phonemes, which we used to construct word parts, and in turn contructed words, then phrases, then sentences, then narratives.

This way of thinking seems completely valid─even obvious. However, in another way, it is also completely wrong.

It misses something fundamental that makes human communication so different from computer communication of today. If you spoke with a strong French accent, or had a speech impediment, you would be using a very different set of phonemes. Even if you were unable to say up to a half of the sounds the expected way, many people could still probably understand you. And as you continued to speack with someone, their ability to understand you would increase.

So if everything was actually built out of those base-level phonemes, all of later/dependent layers of processing and understanding would be broken and you wouldn't understand anything. Garbage in, garbage out. This would make the prospect of mutual understanding quite brittle and fragile, which is indeed the case with most computer interfaces, where unexpected symbols can mess up everything. The ability to do somewhat independent sense-making at each of these layers is critical. And the layers themselves seem to be connected to different expectations, symbol sets or layers of meaning.

In fact, it turns out that first and foremost, we have the ability to receive a general carrier for the symbols rather than the symbols themselves. In this case, the hairs in your [cochleas 달팽이관] receive sound waves by vibrating to different frequenceis. They receive the general carrier of sound, not just specific phonemes. Just like our eyes receive frequencies of light, not just specific letters or objects.

Receiving the carrier first allows us to attempt pattern matching for phonemes, words or phrases on soundwaves, or for different objects or patterns or lightwaves. In fact, we have the capacity to hear a word or phrase and if we don't recognize it, ask what it means, and “install” the ability to understand it in the future. Computers (other than AI learning systems) don't normally have this capactity to say, “Unknown symbol or protocol. Please install it in me so I can continue processing the message you already sent.” Ceptr enables this process. Not by being an AI/learning system, but by having a built in ability to define and receive semantics, protocols, and carriers.

Once we started thinking this way, its importance grew. We started seeing how RECEPTIVE CAPACITY organizes the world: like our “five senses,” how RNA receptively holds the pattern that builds DNA, and bow atoms have valences which want to receive a certain number of electrons which become “slots” for molecular bonds.

When we worked into a coffee shop, we'd see how some surfaces were receptive for walking (able to bear full body weight, clear of obstacles, etc.), others for butts to sit on (at a comfortable height, stable, soft to sit on, etc.), and others for setting food and drinks on (smooth, stable, not likely to get kicked, sat on, or spilled, etc.). We started seeing how these types of receptivity shape all interactions, from subatomic particles to solar systems, from social interactions to technology systems.

For us it was a beautiful inversion. Instead of only seeing the objects that exists, we started seeing the receptivity that gave them the space in which to come into existence. The subtle power of yin became clearer instead of just the solidity of yang.

And we embarked on a mission to have computers work this way.

3.1.2 How Receptors Work

Receptors are the “atoms” of the Ceptr computing architecture, and the basis for the name of the platform. A receptor is a lightweight virtual machine, which can run processes, manage its state, and most importantly RECEIVE (and send) signals. They employ a fundamental unity, and hold coherence:

• for the version of their executable code
• for the state of their data
• for relationships within collections of data
• for how they interface with other receptors (including other distributed instances of themselves)

A running receptor is always instantiated in the (address) space of another receptor. In other words, receptors can contain other receptors. This extends, in a fractal manner, with each receptors able to manage a particular realm of coherence as an integrated service inside other receptors.

You may be thinking: “Every receptor in a receptor? It has to bottom out somewhere. It can't just be ‘turtles all the way down’” This is made possible by a trick of constructing a strange loop in how receptors interface with computers and networks akin to biological genotypes and phenotypes. Every receptor runs by virtue of process threads allocated to it by a Virtual Machine Host. These VMhosts are themselves a special kind of receptor which interfaces with the operating system of the host machine.

※ 편집과 내용 배치에 관한 설계자 Eric Harris-Braun의 논평 (2015년 3월 6일):

“Bootstrapping is actually a sub-section of ‘how receptors work’ so visually I got confused to see it as a new section, because these three sentences don't explain the strange loop enough, and then [I though] we were moving on to something else. How this ends up depends on whether we end up keeping detailed explanation of the strange loop in this doc, or move it elsewhere as you point out below. ”

3.1.3 Bootstrapping Ceptr via a Strange Loop

The easy part: Suppose you grab a receptor from the Ceptr Compository[주]§ that does something useful that you want. (Think of this like getting an app from an App Store.[주]§§) It will have a unique Compository ID, and when you install it in your VMhost, it will assign it an instance ID.

[주]§. Eric Harris-Braun (2015년 3월 7일):
First use of this term, and it isn't defined yet. I think it might make more sense to leave the new word out here because I think the looping thing can be explained just with the fact of the unique ID. Then later explain, "Q: OK, where did you get that receptor from? A: The compository, which is kind of like an App store, but here's how it's not a centralized enclosure..."

[주]§§. 세 사람(Nicholas Perrin, Arthur Brock, Eric Harris-Braun) 사이의 대화(2016년 9월 15~16일): 생략.

Where it starts getting tricky: Suppose you installed a shared instance receptor for a cryptocurrency. Like DNA in cells, each user of that currency runs their own instance of that receptor for a cryptocurrency. Like DNA in cells, each user of that currency runs their own instance of that receptor in their own VMhost, and the receptors synchronize data with each other to keep track of everyone's currency balance. Each instance shares the same Compository ID which is part of how the instances keep track of each other, but they also have a unique instance address within the VMhost running it.

The strange loop part: [We] mentioned that VMhosts are a special kind of receptor. They have the ability to provide services for interfacing with the operating system (to reach physical devices or the network) they're running on. The VMhost uses a UUID algorithm to generate the address it is known by in the Ceptr Network. But just like every other running receptor, every CeptrNet receptor actually runs inside a VMhost. Every CeptrNet receptor has the same Compository ID (genotype), but each runs as an instance (phenotype) inside a VMhost. Each VMhost (genotype) is a node at an address (phenotype) in the CeptrNet. (Write a standalone post on this with diagrams)

== End Strange Loop Section which may be too geeky and could be moved elsewhere ==

Back to receptive capacity as the foundation upon which everything in Ceptr is built─ability to specify carriers and protocols makes it possible for a receptor to receive a signal, discover that it doesn't know how to interpret the signal, and then install the protocols required to process it and respond to it appropriately. This adds a level of resilience to computer communications that seem sorely missing today.

Still to write / expand:

• Example: Q&A grammar
• Fractal structure and coherence:
• How receptors are VMs that are lightweight enough to be able to nest fractally ... Reference shared system defined structures, symbols & processes in the VMhost. Shared data engine handling, memory, disk, netowrk & synchronization.
• Distributed data engine and byzantine fault-tolerance [주]§§§

[주]§§§. Alan Moore의 코멘트(2015년 7월 15일):
Have you looked into Sparse Distributed Representation (SDR)? I came across it in relation to Hierarchical Temporal Momory and the Cortical Learning Algorithm from Jeff Hawkins/Numenta. They model the cortical region of the brain─this may be too fine grained for what you are discussing here but it could help somehow...To be discussed.
Arthur Brock의 코멘트(2015년 9월 9일): We'll look into it. Thansk!

NEW OUTINE: HOW RECEPTORS WORK: [주]§§§§

• State & Coherence (link to data engine for persistence / replication among instances?)
• Fractal structure (link to with solution to turtles all the way down)
• Semantic Trees to represent Carrier / Signal / Protocol (a few paragraph with links to semantic... / semtrex? also to self-describing protocol stack)
• Relational scaping (one paragraph with link to section)
• Processing (it is a virtual machine after all)
• Inter-Receptor signaling within one VMhost (link to network for between hosts)

[주]§§§§. Arthur Brock의 코멘트(2015년 4월 24일): Restructure this "Distributed Fractal Receptors" section per this outline (Save current text somewhere else).

※ [독자 주] 여기까지가 3절 중 3.1 소절의 끝이다. 이 3.1 소절에 대한 Arthur Brock의 마지막 코멘트에서 보듯, 새로운 구조로 다시 작성되기로 2015년 4월 시점에 결정되었다.

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3.2 Relational Scaping

( ... ... )

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※ 비고 (This Reader's Remark): 메타커런시 프로젝트(MetaCurrency Project)의 개념과 역사에 대해 탐색해 가면서 아울러 현재와 미래에 걸쳐 동반 탐색자의 출현을 기대하는 공개적인 탐구용 게시물(A personal exploration to learn about something related to the ideas of the MetaCurrency Project and its history, having some hope to find some people interested esp. in Korea though).

• 추적 문서의 위치: The MetaCurrency Project(Ceptr) > 문서명: Ceptr Revelation(자료 형태: 구글문서)
• 최초 탐색: '메타커런시 프로젝트'를 찾아서(1): '보이지 않는 대학 연맹'에 집결된 자료들
• 직전 탐색: 메타커런시 프로젝트를 찾아서 5
• 다음 탐색: 메타커런시 프로젝트를 찾아서 7 - Ceptr Revelation 읽기