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What about if a clearer understanding of what made something computation suggested new ways of implementing computation? Ways that were more efficient or had o
by jamesrcole 15y ago
What about if a clearer understanding of what made something computation suggested new ways of implementing computation? Ways that were more efficient or had other useful properties?
What it a better understanding of what computation is helped you analyse what was going on in biological information processing?
The thing is, we can't predict what benefit might come from some new theoretical understanding.
Take Quantum Mechanics for an example. All sorts of practical things have come from it, but there was no way to predict what these would be before fact.
- arethuza 15y agoQuantum Mechanics is a theory that makes testable predictions about the world. Asking about "what is computation?" is asking a question about our definition of an abstraction, not about anything concrete. So yes, it's an interesting philosphical question - but it's meta to the level that most people are actually interested in. [NB - I am not a physicist, so take any of my statements about what QM is or isn't with a pinch of salt!]
- jamesrcole 15y ago...an answer to the question "what is computation" would be a theory that makes testable predictions about the world.