Related papers: Self-replication and Computational Universality
This essay aims to propose construction theory, a new domain of theoretical research on machine construction, and use it to shed light on a fundamental relationship between living and computational systems. Specifically, we argue that…
Many different definitions of computational universality for various types of dynamical systems have flourished since Turing's work. We propose a general definition of universality that applies to arbitrary discrete time symbolic dynamical…
The notions of universality and completeness are central in the theories of computation and computational complexity. However, proving lower bounds and necessary conditions remains hard in most of the cases. In this article, we introduce…
Unlike computation or the numerical analysis of differential equations, simulation does not have a well established conceptual and mathematical foundation. Simulation is an arguable unique union of modeling and computation. However,…
Recent computational experiments have demonstrated the spontaneous emergence of self-replicating programs across universal automata, artificial chemistries, and self-modifying code systems. Remarkably, these results arise without explicit…
Universality in cellular automata theory is a central problem studied and developed from their origins by John von Neumann. In this paper, we present an algorithm where any Turing machine can be converted to one-dimensional cellular…
Life is confronted with computation problems in a variety of domains including animal behavior, single-cell behavior, and embryonic development. Yet we currently do not know of a naturally existing biological system that is capable of…
The fields of Origin of Life and Artificial Life both question what life is and how it emerges from a distinct set of "pre-life" dynamics. One common feature of most substrates where life emerges is a marked shift in dynamics when…
System and synthetic biology are rapidly evolving systems, but both lack tools such as those used in engineering environments to shift the their focus from the design of parts (details) to the design of systems (behaviors); to aggravate,…
A universal Turing machine is a powerful concept - a single device can compute any function that is computable. A universal spin model, similarly, is a class of physical systems whose low energy behavior simulates that of any spin system.…
A major challenge of interdisciplinary description of complex system behaviour is whether real systems of higher complexity levels can be understood with at least the same degree of objective, "scientific" rigour and universality as…
Many real-world dynamic systems, both natural and artificial, are understood to be performing computations. For artificial dynamic systems, explicitly designed to perform computation - such as digital computers - by construction, we can…
Beginning with Turing's seminal work in 1950, artificial intelligence proposes that consciousness can be simulated by a Turing machine. This implies a potential theory of everything where the universe is a simulation on a computer, which…
Artificial organisms are computer programs that self-replicate, mutate, compete and evolve. How do these lifelike information-processing behaviours could arise in diverse far-from-equilibrium physical systems remains an open question. Here,…
We dwell upon the physicist's conception of `life' since Schroedinger and Wigner through to the modern-day language of living systems in the light of quantum information. We discuss some basic features of a living system such as ordinary…
The study of factoring relations between subshifts or cellular automata is central in symbolic dynamics. Besides, a notion of intrinsic universality for cellular automata based on an operation of rescaling is receiving more and more…
Efforts at understanding the computational processes in the brain have met with limited success, despite their importance and potential uses in building intelligent machines. We propose a simple new model which draws on recent findings in…
There are enormous amount of examples of Computation in nature, exemplified across multiple species in biology. One crucial aim for these computations across all life forms their ability to learn and thereby increase the chance of their…
This chapter is an overview of foundational results in the mathematical theory of replicator systems. Its primary aim is to provide a unified framework for the mathematical formalisation of evolutionary processes in the spirit of…
Models of computation operating over the real numbers and computing a larger class of functions compared to the class of general recursive functions invariably introduce a non-finite element of infinite information encoded in an arbitrary…