When does a physical system compute?

When does a physical system compute?
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DOI:
10.1098/rspa.2014.0182
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发表时间:
2014-09-08
期刊:
Proceedings. Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
Kendon V
Kendon V
中科院分区:
其他
文献类型:
--
作者:
Horsman C;Stepney S;Wagner RC;Kendon V

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计算是物理系统的高级过程。最近对非标准计算系统(包括量子计算机和生物计算机)的兴趣使这种计算的物理基础走到了最前沿。然而,对于如何判断给定的物理系统是否充当计算机,尚未达成共识。导致对新颖计算设备的混乱,甚至声称每个物理事件都是计算。在本文中,我们介绍了一个可用于确定物理系统是否正在执行计算的正式框架。与实验科学中数学模型的使用相比,我们展示了抽象计算级别如何与物理设备级别交互。这个强大的公式可以精确描述实验、技术、计算和模拟,给出我们的中心结论:物理计算是使用物理系统来预测抽象进化的结果。我们给出了计算条件,并使用一系列非标准计算场景进行了说明。该框架还涵盖了更广泛的计算环境,其中没有明显的人类计算机用户。我们介绍“计算实体”的概念,及其在定义物理系统中何时进行计算方面的关键作用。
Computing is a high-level process of a physical system. Recent interest in non-standard computing systems, including quantum and biological computers, has brought this physical basis of computing to the forefront. There has been, however, no consensus on how to tell if a given physical system is acting as a computer or not; leading to confusion over novel computational devices, and even claims that every physical event is a computation. In this paper, we introduce a formal framework that can be used to determine whether a physical system is performing a computation. We demonstrate how the abstract computational level interacts with the physical device level, in comparison with the use of mathematical models in experimental science. This powerful formulation allows a precise description of experiments, technology, computation and simulation, giving our central conclusion: physical computing is the use of a physical system to predict the outcome of an abstract evolution. We give conditions for computing, illustrated using a range of non-standard computing scenarios. The framework also covers broader computing contexts, where there is no obvious human computer user. We introduce the notion of a ‘computational entity’, and its critical role in defining when computing is taking place in physical systems.
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