The Nature of Physical Computation

Computing systems are everywhere today. Even the brain is thought to be a sort of computing system. 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 it seldom occur to us to de...

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मुख्य लेखक: Shagrir, Oron
स्वरूप: Online
भाषा:अंग्रेज़ी
प्रकाशित: Oxford University Press 2024
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ऑनलाइन पहुंच:OCN: 1260692959
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description Computing systems are everywhere today. Even the brain is thought to be a sort of computing system. 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 it seldom occur to us to describe stomachs, hurricanes, rocks, or chairs that way? The book provides an extended argument for the semantic view of computation, which states that semantic properties are involved in the nature of computing systems. Laptops, smartphones, and nervous systems compute because they are accompanied by representations. Stomachs, hurricanes, and rocks, for instance, which do not have semantic properties, do not compute. The first part of the book argues that the linkage between the mathematical theory of computability and the notion of physical computation is weak. Theoretical notions such as algorithms, effective procedure, program, and automaton play only a minor role in identifying physical computation. The second part of the book reviews three influential accounts of physical computation and argues that while none of these accounts is satisfactory, each of them highlights certain key features of physical computation. The final part of the book develops and argues for a semantic account of physical computation and offers a characterization of computational explanations.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1343782025-07-17T10:00:45Z The Nature of Physical Computation Shagrir, Oron Metaphysics; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic; Philosophy of Computational Science; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science Computing systems are everywhere today. Even the brain is thought to be a sort of computing system. 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 it seldom occur to us to describe stomachs, hurricanes, rocks, or chairs that way? The book provides an extended argument for the semantic view of computation, which states that semantic properties are involved in the nature of computing systems. Laptops, smartphones, and nervous systems compute because they are accompanied by representations. Stomachs, hurricanes, and rocks, for instance, which do not have semantic properties, do not compute. The first part of the book argues that the linkage between the mathematical theory of computability and the notion of physical computation is weak. Theoretical notions such as algorithms, effective procedure, program, and automaton play only a minor role in identifying physical computation. The second part of the book reviews three influential accounts of physical computation and argues that while none of these accounts is satisfactory, each of them highlights certain key features of physical computation. The final part of the book develops and argues for a semantic account of physical computation and offers a characterization of computational explanations. 2024-02-20T04:04:28Z 2024-02-20T04:04:28Z 2024-02-19T13:31:01Z 2022 book OCN: 1260692959 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/87756 9780197552384 9780197552407 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/134378 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/87756/1/9780197552391_The%20Nature%20of%20Physical%20Computation_Shagrir.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/87756/1/9780197552391_The%20Nature%20of%20Physical%20Computation_Shagrir.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/87756/1/9780197552391_The%20Nature%20of%20Physical%20Computation_Shagrir.pdf Oxford University Press 10.1093/oso/9780197552384.001.0001 10.1093/oso/9780197552384.001.0001 db4e319f-ca9f-449a-bcf2-37d7c6f885b1 Hebrew University of Jerusalem 8b61158e-f530-4b17-9915-09b99e9f55c0 9780197552384 9780197552407 319 open access
spellingShingle Metaphysics; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic; Philosophy of Computational Science; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science
Shagrir, Oron
The Nature of Physical Computation
title The Nature of Physical Computation
title_full The Nature of Physical Computation
title_fullStr The Nature of Physical Computation
title_full_unstemmed The Nature of Physical Computation
title_short The Nature of Physical Computation
title_sort nature of physical computation
topic Metaphysics; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic; Philosophy of Computational Science; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science
topic_facet Metaphysics; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic; Philosophy of Computational Science; Philosophy of Mathematics & Logic
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UY Computer science
url OCN: 1260692959
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