HiPhis Webinar - Tuesday, January 19, 5:30pm: Between analogy and abstraction: a study of the origins of simulation in ENIAC

Tuesday, January 19, 2021from 5:30p.m. to7:30 p.m., online webinar onZoom, online registration toreceive a connection link[rescheduling of the conference cancelled on November 26, 2019 for health reasons].

Between analogy and abstraction: a study of the origins of simulation in ENIAC

Liesbeth De Mol
Philosopher, historian and epistemologist of computer science, C.R. CNRS, University of Lille, UMR 8163 "Savoirs Textes Langages" Laboratory, CNRS Bronze Medal 2019

Abstract: [ short title: ENIAC, a simulating machine ] What is the impact of computers on science? This question is central to the philosophical debates surrounding simulation. Rather than taking a direct stance in these debates, my aim is to revisit the origins of the simulation implemented in ENIAC and to put simulation into perspective in this historical context. More specifically, I will focus on the work of three "users": Derrick H. Lehmer, Haskell B. Curry and John von Neumann. From this study, I aim to show how the speed of the computer forces us to rethink and transform existing methods; it is not simulation, but the machine that is central to their thinking. It is at this level that we find different perspectives and techniques for thinking about the problem of representing "natural" (i.e. non-mechanized) processes in the machine.

Joint invitation with IMAG -Institut Montpelliérain Alexandre Grothendieck.
Conference associated withWorld Logic Day, afternoon of lectures at the UM on the same day, IAE amphitheatre, details below.