October 22nd, 2024
Let’s start with a simple question:
What is reality?
This brings us to what I call:
These are the two fundamental components of reality. So, do we perceive reality to be a collection of Objects or a system of Processes?
The dichotomy between Object and Process shows up everywhere we look. Physics provides a good example.
It turns out that, at the level of quantum mechanics, every particle is actually a wave, and every wave is actually a particle. Light, for example, is an electromagnetic phenomenon that is broken up into tiny particles called “photons”.
We see the same dichotomy in economics:
Every economy produces a combination of goods and services. Goods, obviously, are Objects, while services are Processes.
Computers show the same dichotomy: the computer uses algorithms to Process data.
Then there is military science, which breaks warfare down into assets (guns, tanks, planes, soldiers, and so forth) and operations (moving those assets around on the battlefield. Assets are Objects, while operations are Processes.
Linguistics is another realm of thought showing the dichotomy between Object and Process:
The two most fundamental types of words are nouns and verbs. Every sentence must contain at least one noun and one verb. Nouns specify Objects, while verbs specify Processes.
In order to learn any particular language, we must study two separate subjects: its vocabulary and its grammar.
The vocabulary of a language is a collection of Objects: the words of the language. The grammar of a language is a system of Processes: the rules by which the words are put together to create meaning.
Even mathematics shows the dichotomy. The most basic elements of mathematics are the numbers, which themselves are objects. But most of mathematics concerns the Processes that manipulate numbers.
One last example: understanding the body. The two fundamental approaches to understanding the body: anatomy and physiology. Anatomy specifies the various parts of the body: objects. Physiology describes the Processes that take place within the body: metabolism, respiration, circulation of the blood, and so forth.
My hope in presenting this long sequence of phenomena is that you will be convinced that the great dichotomy between Object and Process is fundamental to reality. More to the point, it is fundamental to your ability to understand the computer.
The moral of this story: The two fundamental components of reality are Object and Process.