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The last few years have seen a number of very interesting developments along the lines of understanding the natural world through the so-called "lens of computa
by j2kun 9y ago
The last few years have seen a number of very interesting developments along the lines of understanding the natural world through the so-called "lens of computation." Some interesting talks can be found here [1] as well as an essay here [2], on the topics of economics, social interaction, biology, and physics.
[1]: https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2014/lens-of-computation-workshop https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2014/lens-of-computation-workshop
[2]: http://theory.cs.berkeley.edu/computational-lens.html http://theory.cs.berkeley.edu/computational-lens.html
- beefman 9y agoGenerally that phrase refers to the asymptotic analysis of algorithms, which I think has relatively little to teach us about natural systems of the kind mentioned here. I have tremendous respect for TCS and those who study it, and I attended the second "lens" conference in Berkeley in 2011. But it does seem a bit like a field looking for justification. And I don't think it's impossible that academic competition drives more of our brightest to spend more time on it (asymptotic analysis) than is optimal.
- j2kun 9y agoWhy would you think it has little to teach? The author even says that it's useful and influential. > What we are doing at C4 is taking messy, conceptually challenging problems and turning them into something rigorous. We’re very philosophically oriented, but we’re also very quantitative, particularly in thinking about how nature can overcome subjectivity in information processing through collective computation. We really think the answer to these questions requires combining insights from statistical physics, theoretical computer science, information theory, evolutionary biology and cognitive science.