Intesym

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Intesym's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Intesym is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.intesym.co.uk

47INTESYM |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Dr Neale Smith, director

Out-of-place and in-place

O(N)-time sorting process

Intesym is an electronic design consultancy with expertise

in data flow, processing and computation. Operating as

anything from consultant engineers to a technology partner,

Intesym draws on over a decade of in-house experience across a

multitude of fields. Their forte is increasing the sophistication of

technology through the simplicity of designs.

It is usual for technological enhancements to be accompanied by increased

complexity, because new ideas are built upon old. This reflects the mantra of

“don’t reinvent the wheel”.

Sometimes, however, wheels need to be reinvented, and that is what we do.

Intesym’s philosophy

Complexity in technology is a serious problem. For example, no one person

can have a full comprehension of how a modern computer works. It is beyond

the capacity of a single human mind. Such technology is only collectively

comprehended and collectively designed. This means that thousands of component

parts are designed independently by thousands of people yet are expected to

operate as a coherent whole. Efforts to control this become correspondingly

burdensome, with varying degrees of success.

A rule of thumb to gauge whether a design is simple is whether it can be fully

comprehended – and designed – by a single person. Not everything can be easily

reduced to such simplicity, but the fewer people needed, the better.

FACTS ABOUT

INTESYM

»Director: Dr Neale Smith

»Established in 2001

»Based in Alnwick,

Northumberland

»Services: Electronic design

engineering and software

engineering

»No. of employees: 3

»www.intesym.co.uk

Intesym

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

48 | INTESYM

» SIMPLICITY

INDESIGN

»Finding the simplest

design for a

sophisticated product

»A simplified design is:

»At least as capable

as a complex one

»Easier to understand

»More robust

»Cheaper and

easier to make and

maintain

Complex technology can only evolve

very slowly. Complexity stifles progress

because any attempt at change is

constrained by all of the other parts

imposed beyond one’s control. It

becomes a process of optimising

the pre-existing methods, where

improvements in the details are

heralded as “quantum leaps”.

In contrast, simple technology can be

unilaterally overhauled at relatively little

expense – more ideas can be explored

and rapid revolutions can be made.

Simplicity in design

Simple designs often have greater

capability than complex designs;

having a full comprehension reveals

their potential. Our method to achieve

simplicity can be expressed by two key

points.

The first: look for hidden assumptions

and inappropriate axioms.

These occur in three places: in the

posing of the problem, in the prior

art of solving it, and in one’s own

attempts to solve it. We must check for

all possible instances.

Sometimes assumptions and axioms

are based on flawed logic; sometimes

the logic is correct, but unnecessarily

applied. Even a tautology can be

rejected if it is inappropriate to the

situation. Care needs to be taken

to avoid inadvertently reflecting a

solution’s assumptions and axioms onto

the problem, because such reflection

can make the solution its own barrier to

success. This is the key to our process.

Having a belief that something must

be so, especially if formally expressed

as such by an authority, can prevent

one from questioning whether

an alternative is either possible or

feasible. It is our opinion, gained from

experience and observation, that a

great many technological barriers

do not arise from laws of nature, or

indeed mathematics, but are instead

self-inflicted due to assumed truths

going unchallenged.

When an axiom is found to be illusory,

then a simpler path will become clear.

The second point: revisit historical

ideas; reject unnecessary novelty.

Old ideas are supplanted by new ideas,

often not because the new ones are

better, but because novelty is a primary

aim in a world driven by the need to

acquire patents and publish research. A

nebulous desire for change means that

old ideas can become forgotten unless

stumbled upon through reinvention.

Sometimes old ideas fall by the

wayside because advances in

technology render them obsolete.

However, as the occurrence of

reinvention and rediscovery shows,

technology goes in cycles and

obsolescence is only temporary.

New ideas are ingrained by exposure

through teaching and advertising; old

ideas less so. This can lead to difficulty

in looking for or remembering old

ideas. Sometimes an old idea is

ignored because, in its day, it was tried

and found to be impractical. Is it still

impractical now, or only assumed to

be so?

It is routinely

said that

technology

advances with

ever-

increasing

pace. But does

it?

“

»SUMMARY OF METHOD

»Discard prior notions of how to solve a given problem

»Question assumptions and axioms

»Avoid reflecting a solution’s problems onto the question

»Consider historical ideas in a modern context

»Invoke novelty sparingly

»“New”, “innovative”, “patented” ≠ “better”

»Look for routes around barriers, not over or through them

»If you’re too close to the problem, ask someone else

»Often a layperson can see an answer that an expert can’t

»Ask the silly questions

»Consider if the stated problem is the true problem, or an assumed

solution posing as the problem

»If the stated problem includes technical details, then it is probably

not the true problem

49INTESYM |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Simplicity realised

Much of modern technology is based

upon computers. Microprocessors are

now employed with vast swathes of

software for even the most trivial of

applications. Requirements for “next

generation” products are extrapolated

upwards from the current generation.

A vicious circle ensues, and complexity

proliferates.

This costs the world billions of dollars a

year in R&D. The underlying technology

is a wheel overdue for reinvention.

It is routinely said that technology

advances with ever-increasing pace.

But does it? Complexity certainly does,

but what about function, efficiency,

usefulness? We believe that a kind

of technological “Dark Age” began

in the 1990s. Since then, integrated

circuits have become smaller, faster

and cheaper, and so too have the

computing devices based upon them.

The principles by which they operate,

however, have not changed; progress

is being made through brute force and

expensively pushing the boundaries

ofphysics.

We suggest that a better approach

is to, instead, remove the barriers.

In doing so, that brute force will

not be needed and the pressure will

be removed from physics. Greater

technological development can be

achieved through simpler underlying

design principles. Why spend billions

clambering over obstacles when it

would be considerably easier and

cheaper to take a route which avoids

those obstacles?

Almost 20 years ago, in conjunction

with our sister company ADR

Ltd, we began developing a new

computational theory, which we call

“synergetics”. By considering even

what it means for data to merely exist,

we found principles which almost

trivialise the design of computational

systems even on immense scales. Of

particular note, within this theory it

is seen that relativity and quantum

mechanical effects are a single

phenomenon merely observed in

different ways; this alone leads to the

greatest simplifications.

Arbitrarily high computing power

can be achieved with less complexity

– and lower design cost – than a

smartphone. And by “arbitrarily

high”, we mean on a planetary scale.

Individual computers can be designed

to assimilate each other, even over vast

distances, forming a single processor

of combined power and resources.

An analogy that we use for this is

water: trillions of raindrops add to the

expanse of an ocean, yet the ocean

is not composed of raindrops, it is

always a single body of water. Modern

concepts, such as the cloud, mobile

phones and even the internet itself,

could all be rendered obsolete.

Technology

goes in cycles

and

obsolescence

is only

temporary

“

»SYNERGETICS

»We call our simple computational principles “synergetics”

»It is a philosophy of the manifestation of mathematics

»To solve a difficult problem, transform it into a synergetic form

more easily solved, then transform the solution back

»Its most obvious application is in the design of computational systems

»Early synergetic prototypes built over 15 years ago

»Synergetics offers:

»Arbitrarily high single processor performance

»Global and even interplanetary distribution of that single processor

»Great simplification in design, deployment, and use of

computational power

»WHY TECHNOLOGY MUST CHANGE

»Current computer development follows Moore’s Law

»Lots of problems they have to solve exceed Moore’s Law (see

below)

»Systems have evolved into sprawling complexity (“technical debt”)

»Some problems can consume as much computing power as is

available

»Not all problems need more power to solve, but the solving can

benefit from simplification

Magnitude

Problem

Size

Solving

power

Intractable

Solvable

Time

Problems can

grow faster than

computing power

www.intesym.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Intesym. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy