19,136 research outputs found
An in-between "implicit" and "explicit" complexity: Automata
Implicit Computational Complexity makes two aspects implicit, by manipulating
programming languages rather than models of com-putation, and by internalizing
the bounds rather than using external measure. We survey how automata theory
contributed to complexity with a machine-dependant with implicit bounds model
The Algorithmic Origins of Life
Although it has been notoriously difficult to pin down precisely what it is
that makes life so distinctive and remarkable, there is general agreement that
its informational aspect is one key property, perhaps the key property. The
unique informational narrative of living systems suggests that life may be
characterized by context-dependent causal influences, and in particular, that
top-down (or downward) causation -- where higher-levels influence and constrain
the dynamics of lower-levels in organizational hierarchies -- may be a major
contributor to the hierarchal structure of living systems. Here we propose that
the origin of life may correspond to a physical transition associated with a
shift in causal structure, where information gains direct, and
context-dependent causal efficacy over the matter it is instantiated in. Such a
transition may be akin to more traditional physical transitions (e.g.
thermodynamic phase transitions), with the crucial distinction that determining
which phase (non-life or life) a given system is in requires dynamical
information and therefore can only be inferred by identifying causal
architecture. We discuss some potential novel research directions based on this
hypothesis, including potential measures of such a transition that may be
amenable to laboratory study, and how the proposed mechanism corresponds to the
onset of the unique mode of (algorithmic) information processing characteristic
of living systems.Comment: 13 pages, 1 tabl
On the possible Computational Power of the Human Mind
The aim of this paper is to address the question: Can an artificial neural
network (ANN) model be used as a possible characterization of the power of the
human mind? We will discuss what might be the relationship between such a model
and its natural counterpart. A possible characterization of the different power
capabilities of the mind is suggested in terms of the information contained (in
its computational complexity) or achievable by it. Such characterization takes
advantage of recent results based on natural neural networks (NNN) and the
computational power of arbitrary artificial neural networks (ANN). The possible
acceptance of neural networks as the model of the human mind's operation makes
the aforementioned quite relevant.Comment: Complexity, Science and Society Conference, 2005, University of
Liverpool, UK. 23 page
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