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Re:Computation as a Universal and Fundamental Concept by dchftcs on Saturday July 11, 2026 @03:24AM (#48869621)
A more concise explanation is that, computation is the transformation of information. Any transformation of information is computation, and is thus subject to some theory of computation. A physical process involves the transformation of information, so can be studied with a theory of computation.
Re:Computation as a Universal and Fundamental Concept by andsoitis on Saturday July 11, 2026 @10:27AM (#48872360)
> A physical process involves the transformation of information, so can be studied with a theory of computation.

A rock rolling downhill has state-dependent future behavior you could describe informationally, but nothing is gained by modeling it with automata theory instead of Newtonian mechanics, and it isn't computing in any substantive sense.

Re:Computation as a Universal and Fundamental Concept by dchftcs on Wednesday July 22, 2026 @06:07AM (#49004322)
Quantum mechanics is pretty fundamental but you wouldn't use it to describe a rock rolling down hill either.