HiPhis Webinar – Tuesday, January 19, 5:30 p.m.: Between Analogy and Abstraction: A Study of the Origins of Simulation in the ENIAC

Tuesday, January 19,2021, from 5:30 p.m. to7:30 p.m.,online webinar viaZoom;register online toreceive a link to join [rescheduled from the conference canceled on November 26, 2019, due to health reasons]

Between Analogy and Abstraction: A Study of the Origins of Simulation in the ENIAC

Liesbeth De Mol
Philosopher, historian, and epistemologist of computer science; CNRS Research Associate (C.R.), University of Lille, UMR 8163 “Savoirs Textes Langages” Laboratory; 2019 CNRS Bronze Medalist

Abstract: [Short title: The ENIAC: A Simulation Machine?] What is the impact of the computer on the sciences? This question is central to philosophical debates surrounding simulation. Rather than taking a direct stance in these debates, my goal is to revisit the origins of the simulation implemented in the ENIAC and to put simulation into perspective within this historical context. More specifically, I will focus on the work of three “users”: Derrick H. Lehmer, Haskell B. Curry, and John von Neumann. Based on this study, I aim to show how the computer’s speed necessitates a rethinking and transformation of existing methods; thus, it is not simulation, but the machine itself, that is central to their thinking. It is at this level that we find different perspectives and techniques for addressing the problem of representing “natural” (i.e., non-mechanized) processes within the machine.

Joint invitation with IMAG—the Alexandre Grothendieck Institute of Montpellier.
Lecture associated with WorldLogic Day; an afternoon of lectures at UM on the same day in the IAE lecture hall; details below