Peter Neumann introduced me to another Peter, the author of this delightful lil’ missive below. Thanks P^2.<\/p>\n
[5] Elias, P., \u201cTwo famous papers\u201d (Editorial), Sep. 1958, p. 99.<\/p>\n
\nTWO FAMOUS PAPERS<\/p>\n
PETER ELIAS<\/p>\n
It is common in editorials to discuss matters of general policy and not specific
\nresearch. But the two papers I would like to describe have been written so often, by so
\nmany different authors under so many different titles, that they have earned editorial
\nconsideration.<\/p>\nThe first paper has the generic title “Information Theory, Photosynthesis and Religion”
\n(title courtesy of D. A. Huffman), and is written by an engineer of physicist. It
\ndiscusses the surprisingly close relationship between the vocabulary and conceptual
\nframework of information theory and that of psychology (or genetics, or linguistics, or
\npsychiatry, or business organization). It is pointed out that the concepts of
\nstructure, pattern, entropy, noise, transmitter, receiver, and code are (when properly
\ninterpreted) central to both. Having placed the discipline of psychology for the first
\ntime on a sound scientific bas, the author modestly leaves the filling in of the
\noutline to the psychologists. He has, of course, read up on the field in preparation
\nfor writing the paper, and has a firm grasp of the essentials, but he has been anxious
\nnot to clutter his mind with such details as the state of knowledge in the field, what
\nthe central problems are; how they are being attacked, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.<\/p>\nThere is a constructive alternative for the author of this paper. If he is willing to
\ngive up larceny for a life of honest toil, he can find a competent psychologist and
\nspend several years at intensive mutual education, leading to productive joint
\nresearch. But this has some disadvantages from his point of view. First, Psychology
\nwould not be placed on a sound scientific base for several extra years. Second, he
\nmight find himself, as so many have, diverted from the broader questions, wasting his
\ntime on problems whose only merit is that they are vitally important, unsolved, and in
\nneed of interdisciplinary effort. In fact, he might spend so much time solving such
\nproblems that psychology never would be placed on a sound scientific base.<\/p>\nThe second paper is typically called “The Optimum Linear Mean Square Filter for
\nSeparating Sinusoidally Modulated Triangular Signals from Randomly Sampled Stationary
\nGaussian Noise, with Applications to a Problem in Radar.” The details vary from version
\nto version, but the initial physical problem has as its major interest its obvious
\nnonlinearity. An effective discussion of this problem would require some really new
\nthinking of a difficult sort, so the author quickly substitutes an unrelated linear
\nproblem which is more amenable to analysis. He treats this irrelevant linear problem in
\na very general way, and by a triumph of analytical technique is able to present its
\nsolution, not quite in closed form, but as the solution to an integral equation whose
\nkernel is the solution of another bivariate integral equation. He notes that the
\nproblem is now in a form in which standard numerical analysis techniques, and one of
\nthe micromicrosecond computers which people are now beginning to discuss, can provide
\ndetailed answers to specific questions. Many authors might rest here (in fact, many
\ndo), but ours wants real insight into the character of the results. By carefully taking
\nlimits and investigating asymptotic behavior he succeeds in showing that in a few very
\nspecial cases (which include all those which have any conceivable application or offer
\nany significant insight) the results of this analysis agree with the results of the
\nWiener-Lee-Zadeh-Raggazzini theory — the very results, indeed, which Wiener, Lee,
\nZadeh, and Raggazzini obtained years before.<\/p>\nThese two papers have been written — and even published — often enough by now.<\/p>\n
I suggest that we stop writing them, and release a large supply of manpower to work on
\nthe exciting and important problems which need investigation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peter Neumann introduced me to another Peter, the author of this delightful lil’ missive below. Thanks P^2. [5] Elias, P., \u201cTwo famous papers\u201d (Editorial), Sep. 1958, p. 99. TWO FAMOUS PAPERS PETER ELIAS It is common in editorials to discuss matters of general policy and not specific research. But the two papers I would like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,18,20,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","category-rememberance","category-science","category-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428,"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trouble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}