Well, TCP/IP was just about the mechanics of getting 2 machines to be able to communicate with each other. He hints at the end of that comment on how to expand that to include meaning and interpretation of the actual message. One way of thinking about it - how would we communicate with an alien civilization? In a way that's how 2 machines that never interacted before could negotiate common meaning.
> One way of thinking about it - how would we communicate with an alien civilization? In a way that's how 2 machines that never interacted before could negotiate common meaning.
Interesting. Actual attempts to solve this, such as the Arecibo message, always reference "universal" constants like prime numbers, atomic structure, the speed of light, etc, to establish a common language.
I'm not sure I understand what the analog would be for two computers?
Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure either. Alan Kay has a very socratic way of communicating (at least from reading through all his comments on the AMA) and I often feel like he's been sitting in a higher plane of thought for so long that the only way he is able to communicate his ideas is by 'forcing' the recipient to make the same jumps he has (a bit like the square in Flatland). I could be completely misunderstanding where he was going with those thoughts.
