I used to think that the classical computer, the universal Turing machine in our pockets and backpacks, was a one-of-a-kind invention. There is the human history before computers, and the human history after software; before, we are mortal, and after we are divine. I don’t think so anymore. Computers are powerful because they are universal machines, mechanical solutions to some generalizable large abstract class of problems. In the case of classical computers / Turing machines, this is gene...
