cycle of reincarnation

cycle of reincarnation n.  [coined in a paper by T. H. Myer
   and I.E. Sutherland "On the Design of Display Processors", Comm.
   ACM, Vol. 11, no. 6, June 1968)] Term used to refer to a well-known
   effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated
   out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the
   peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job,
   then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two
   asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function
   back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again.

   Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in
   graphics-processor design, and at least one or two in
   communications and floating-point processors.  Also known as `the
   Wheel of Life', `the Wheel of Samsara', and other variations of
   the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea.  See also {blitter},
   {bit bang}.