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Re:The Universe as a Computer by NoMoreNicksLeft on Friday April 26, 2024 @10:14AM (#40169713)
Predictability of output is very much a computing thing. If I try to compute the 11 trillionth digit of Pi in base-7, I should get the same answer every time. If I do not get the same answer, then the device is either malfunctioning (often) or just not a computer at all.

It it sort of assumed our brains are computers, but no one has ever demonstrated this to be the case to any degree. Human brains seem to, at least partially, operate on different principles.

Re:The Universe as a Computer by 2four2 on Friday April 26, 2024 @10:25AM (#40169829)
I think a device which outputs a distribution of answers is still a computer. The information is an answer and needs to be computed. Determinism and repeatability isn't a requirement for defining computation.
Re:The Universe as a Computer by figassis on Saturday April 27, 2024 @11:13AM (#40180595)
Something can be predictable in some ways and not in others. If you build AI that is capable of giving you answers to complex world issues, the intermediary steps might not be predictable, and perhaps neigher the final answer, but you might just need it to be correct, because it will be an answer dependent on the external world, which is itself not very predictable.