The Nature of Physical Computation

The Nature of Physical Computation
Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Total Pages : 319
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780197552384
ISBN-13 : 0197552382
Rating : 4/5 (382 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Nature of Physical Computation by : Oron Shagrir

Download or read book The Nature of Physical Computation written by Oron Shagrir and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Computing systems are ubiquitous in contemporary life. Even the brain is thought to be a computing system of sorts. But what does it mean to say that a given organ or system "computes"? What is it about laptops, smartphones, and nervous systems that they are deemed to compute - and why does itseldom occur to us to describe stomachs, hurricanes, rocks, or chairs that way? These questions are key to laying the conceptual foundations of computational sciences, including computer science and engineering, and the cognitive and neural sciences.Oron Shagrir here provides an extended argument for the semantic view of computation, which states that semantic properties are involved in the nature of computing systems. The first part of the book provides general background. Although different in scope, these chapters have a common theme-namely,that the linkage between the mathematical theory of computability and the notion of physical computation is weak. The second part of the book reviews existing non-semantic accounts of physical computation. Shagrir analyze three influential accounts in greater depth and argues that none of theseaccounts is satisfactory, but each of them highlights certain key features of physical computation that he eventually adopts in his own semantic account of physical computation - a view that rests on a phenomenon known as simultaneous implementation (or "indeterminacy of computation"). Shagrircompletes the characterization of his account of computation and highlights the distinctive feature of computational explanations.


The Nature of Physical Computation Related Books

The Nature of Physical Computation
Language: en
Pages: 319
Authors: Oron Shagrir
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Computing systems are ubiquitous in contemporary life. Even the brain is thought to be a computing system of sorts. But what does it mean to say that a given or
Physical Computation
Language: en
Pages: 324
Authors: Gualtiero Piccinini
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015 - Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Computation permeates our world, but a satisfactory philosophical theory of what it is has been lacking. Gualtiero Piccinini presents a mechanistic account of w
The Nature of Computation
Language: en
Pages: 1498
Authors: Cristopher Moore
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-08-11 - Publisher: OUP Oxford

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Computational complexity is one of the most beautiful fields of modern mathematics, and it is increasingly relevant to other sciences ranging from physics to bi
The Energetics of Computing in Life and Machines
Language: en
Pages: 500
Authors: Chris Kempes
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-09 - Publisher: Seminar

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Why do computers use so much energy? What are the fundamental physical laws governing the relationship between the precise computation run by a system, whether
Information, Physics, and Computation
Language: en
Pages: 584
Authors: Marc Mézard
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-01-22 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A very active field of research is emerging at the frontier of statistical physics, theoretical computer science/discrete mathematics, and coding/information th