Transparallel pencil selection

Usually, items are processed serially (i.e. one after the other by one processor) or in parallel (i.e., simultaneously by many processors). Transparallel processing means that items are processed simultaneously by one processor (i.e., as if only one item were concerned). This may look like science fiction but the next example shows it is not.

Suppose that, for some odd reason, you want to select the longest pencil from a number of pencils:


One way to do this is that you measure the lengths of all pencils serially (i.e., one pencil after the other):

.........

.........

You could of course also call a number of friends to do the measurements in parallel, that is, the friends work simultaneously and each friend measures only one pencil or only a few pencils. This would reduce the amount of time needed to find the longest pencil, but it would not reduce the total amount of work.

If you are smart, however, you follow a much simpler procedure, which reduces both time and work needed to find the longest pencil. You gather all pencils in one bundle, you put the bundle upright on the table, and you select the longest pencil in one glance:

This is not a procedure by which the pencils are measured one after the other by one processor or simultaneously by many processors. It is a procedure by which the pencils are processed simultaneously by one processor. This is what I call transparallel processing which, in this example, is possible by collapsing the separate pencils into one bundle.

For an informal elaboration in the context of computer processes and cognitive processes, see Smart processing

For a formal account of transparallel processing, see Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2004