Sunday, November 3, 2013

beyond ones and zeros

BEYOND ONE’S AND ZERO’S---- Sunday, November 03, 2013 By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman While reading this morning, I was struck by this quotation: “The synaptic transistor offers several immediate advantages over traditional silicon transistors. For a start, it is not restricted to the binary system of ones and zeros… “[B]ecause real biological synapses have a practically unlimited number of possible states -- not just 'on' or 'off,'" explains Dr. Shi, in a November 3, 2013 Science News article entitled “Synaptic Transistor Learns While It Computes,” a question naturally arises: Are there not more “possible states” available to mankind, which embodies “real biological synopses,” than just: on and off ; either-or; this or that; good or bad, given the above quotation? In fine, don’t many routes get mankind—from “here” to “there” other than our current binary, silicon, paradigms, like one’s and zero’s? Aren’t multiple possibilities prevalent in mankind?