Meurig Beynon and Steve Russ, Redressing the past: liberating computing as an experimental science
This short paper was submitted to the Steering Committee of the Grand Challenges for Computer Research in March 2004. Its purpose was to highlight a fundamental concern that can be seen as orthogonal to the Grand Challenges that had been identified at that time: that of liberating computing as an experimental science. It first discusses the difficulties of reconciling a formal mathematical view of computation with computing in the wild. In this connection, it cites Emil Post's observation that "mathematical thinking is, and must, be essentially creative" and his contention that mathematics will inevitably undergo a reversal of axiomatic trends "with a return to meaning and truth". The paper then identifies characteristics to be expected of computing as an experimental science that point to the need for an alternative conceptual framework for computing. Finally, it briefly alludes to the possibility of founding such a framework on building computer-based construals to embody the patterns of agency and dependency amongst observables that we project on to the situations to which they refer.