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The future calculus of memory managementThe future calculus of memory managementPosted Feb 3, 2012 20:11 UTC (Fri) by nix (subscriber, #2304)In reply to: The future calculus of memory management by kevinm Parent article: The future calculus of memory management
If you solve the cross-datacentre RAM allocation problem, have you also invented an algorithm that could be used to optimally drive a real-world command economy?Well, that has already been invented, by Leonid Kantorovich way back before WWII, originally with the declared intention of treating the entire Soviet economy as a single vast optimization problem. It didn't work, and not just because the models were insanely complex and the necessary computer power didn't then exist. No algorithm can deal with the fact that people lie, and no algorithm exists, nor likely can ever exist, that can produce correct outputs given largely-lying inputs. (If only a few lie, you can deal with it: but in many command economies, espeically those that can resort to force when needed, there's an active incentive to lie to your superiors. So, in the end, most people will stretch the truth, and your beautiful optimizer fails ignominiously.) I wish someone could find a way to globally optimize economies without the wastage inherent in competition, but then I also wish for immortality and FTL travel.
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