Thanks, Paul, for the fascinating prompt.  

I'm excited to hear about the literature suggested by Willard, and I particularly like your distinction between analog as what is not discrete and analog as isomorphism (e.g. Douglas Hoftstadter's most recent book). Those interested may also be interested in the media philosopher and sound historian Jonathan Sterne's take on the question, which resonates fairly well with your distinction and Willard's comments on the midcentury timing. 

If interested, check out this short essay draft Sterne wrote on "analog" that I am editing for a forthcoming volume (currently under review at Princeton), and that at least one other on this list are contributing to (*head nod toward Bernie*). Sterne develops more extended arguments in his books on the MP3 and sound recording, and I could if asked point to more tangential digital-analog debate in sound studies. 

Running out the door, 

Ben  

petersbenjamin.wordpress.com

On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 9:22 AM, Paul Fishwick <metaphorz@gmail.com> wrote:

I recently had a discussion about analog computing with someone who works actively on

hybrid analog-digital systems at the integrated circuit level. My proposal was that there seems

to be, based on historical accounts and reflection, two differing views on “analog”: 1) analog

reflecting the continuous or discrete character of magnitude of a variable, and 2) isomorphism

indicated by construing analog to be associated closely with analogy.

To take one example which can serve for discussion: Are Minecraft circuits analog, digital, or

both? It depends on how we define “analog” and where we focus (on the issue of representation

or magnitude). For example, redstone circuits could be viewed as analog computing in the sense

that the circuits are analogous to electronic circuits containing gates such as and, or, xor, etc.

And yet, at the bottom of the vast hierarchy of translation, we have Minecraft servers and clients

working on top of a digital substrate. In the mid 90s, I bought a Nord Lead for my synthesizer

collection, and Nord uses “virtual analog” to characterize their lineup (an analog front end

and a digital back end):

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-lead-2x

My view is that the issue of magnitude is a side-effect of “analog as analogy and, thus,

isomorphism", and thus not primary. Tangible objects when juxtaposed and configured together

to form physical analogies happen to be continuous simply because reality and our physiology

is continuous, and we employ real objects (at least in the mind) when forming analogies. This

view may need tweaking, but it seems as though the knowledge of such things is present in

this forum.

What are the thoughts on this? Is this an ongoing point of debate among historians?

-paul

Paul Fishwick, PhD

Chair, ACM SIGSIM

Distinguished University Chair of Arts & Technology 

   and Professor of Computer Science

Director, Creative Automata Laboratory

The University of Texas at Dallas

Arts & Technology

800 West Campbell Road, AT10

Richardson, TX 75080-3021

Home: utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick

Blog: creative-automata.com

_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members