More than Computing

August 10th, 2006 Fred McVittie Posted in Complexity, Computation, Matter |

The properties exhibited by inert matter are, for the most part, unspectacular. Matter exists, it displays form, texture, colour, mass etc. It may be reflective, magnetic, absorbent, or even give off radiation of various sorts. What inert matter cannot (usually) do is to compute. In order to perform acts of computation an entity must display a certain level of cybernetic complexity which is beyond inert matter. This complexity is available however, to a large number of systems.

Cybernetic systems, from the simple thermostat to human brain tissue, performs, at various levels, acts of computation, this ability however may not be the last word. It may be that some systems, structures, or materials are capable of exhibiting exotic properties that is a far beyond computation as computation is from the properties exhibited by inert matter.