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                      %IDEALIZING COMPUTER PROGRAMS 851003

     Conceive  a  computer program which  includes  within
itself a description of what a good computer program would
be  like,   and a description of what it itself  is  like.
Might  such a program be designed so that it could examine
itself and use its built-in criteria to dynamically modify
itself  so that it would be the good kind of program which
is included in its own description of what a good computer
program would be like?   Would the purpose of the "better"
program  be  the  same as the purpose of  the  "defective"
program, but achieve that purpose in a "better" way?  What
would  be  the criteria for the selection of the  "better"
way?   The criteria built into the original program?   How
could the computer program accept the judgment that  those
were ultimately "good" criteria, or would it be programmed
according  to  some  other  criteria  to  make   judgments
regarding the value of ideals and values?

     Conceive a computer program designed to pass judgment
upon  the value of the purpose for which it  was  written,
and  to  choose  a better purpose if its  own  purpose  is
defective.    By  what criteria of purpose  might  such  a
computer  program  be designed as to purpose and form  and
style?    Would  it  be possible to  predict  how  such  a
computer  program  would  work?   Would  it  choose  which
machine  to  run,   or would it be bound to  run  on  only
certain machines?   Would it be given power to tell others
on  what  machine  it should run and what  other  machines
should   be  created  to  satisfy  its  instructions   and
decisions?

     Of  what  value  would such computer programs  be  to
their creators?   Would they advance the purposes of their
creators,   or  supplant the purposes of  their  creators?
Would  they  be more or less integrative and  humane  than
their  original  creators?    By what  criteria  are  such
judgments  to be made,  by those of the creative  computer
programmers  or  by more "primitive"  unsophisticated  and
non-technical criteria?
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
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