Re:The Universe as a Computer
by titzer on Friday April 26, 2024 @10:55AM
(#40170152)
> everything has to be computational to be real
But that's just circular logic.
It begs the question as to what is "computational" and what is "mathematical". E.g. Tegmark has good points in the "Mathematical Universe" that describe possible interpretations of what it means to be mathematical. But how is computation different than math? I'd argue that computation is primarily stateful, logical, and (mostly) deterministic with a clear flow of time, whereas mathematical models are often time-reversible (as most, if not of QM is), stateless, and not necessarily "logical" in the sense of relating finite symbolic quantities. Rather mathematical models happily relate infinite series, manifolds, surfaces, high-dimensional spaces, they talk about fields and operate on functions, etc.
But that's just circular logic.
It begs the question as to what is "computational" and what is "mathematical". E.g. Tegmark has good points in the "Mathematical Universe" that describe possible interpretations of what it means to be mathematical. But how is computation different than math? I'd argue that computation is primarily stateful, logical, and (mostly) deterministic with a clear flow of time, whereas mathematical models are often time-reversible (as most, if not of QM is), stateless, and not necessarily "logical" in the sense of relating finite symbolic quantities. Rather mathematical models happily relate infinite series, manifolds, surfaces, high-dimensional spaces, they talk about fields and operate on functions, etc.