Advertisement for the Philosophy of the Computational Sciences

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oron Shagrir
Keyword(s):  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Computational Neuroscience ◽  
Natural Kinds ◽  
Human Computation ◽  
Machine Computation ◽  
Physical Computation ◽  
Computing Systems ◽  
Computational Cognitive Science ◽  
Computational Sciences ◽  
The Church

This chapter deals with those fields that study computing systems. Among these computational sciences are computer science, computational cognitive science, computational neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. In the first part of the chapter, it is shown that there are varieties of computation, such as human computation, algorithmic machine computation, and physical computation. There are even varieties of versions of the Church-Turing thesis. The conclusion is that different computational sciences are often about different kinds of computation. The second part of the chapter discusses three specific philosophical issues. One is whether computers are natural kinds. Another issue is the nature of computational theories and explanations. The last section of the chapter relates remarkable results in computational complexity theory to problems of verification and confirmation.

scholarly journals Applying Complexity Theory and Project-based Learning onto Project Designs of Complex Computing Systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Lugo Vélez ◽  
Nayda Santiago ◽  
Jose Vega-Riveros ◽  
Carmen Bellido
Keyword(s):  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Computing Systems

Quantum theory, the Church–Turing principle and the universal quantum computer

1985 ◽  
Vol 400 (1818) ◽  
pp. 97-117 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Turing Machine ◽  
Physical System ◽  
Quantum Computer ◽  
Physical Principle ◽  
Universal Turing Machine ◽  
Universal Quantum ◽  
Computing Machines ◽  
The Church

It is argued that underlying the Church–Turing hypothesis there is an implicit physical assertion. Here, this assertion is presented explicitly as a physical principle: ‘every finitely realizible physical system can be perfectly simulated by a universal model computing machine operating by finite means’. Classical physics and the universal Turing machine, because the former is continuous and the latter discrete, do not obey the principle, at least in the strong form above. A class of model computing machines that is the quantum generalization of the class of Turing machines is described, and it is shown that quantum theory and the 'universal quantum computer’ are compatible with the principle. Computing machines resembling the universal quantum computer could, in principle, be built and would have many remarkable properties not reproducible by any Turing machine. These do not include the computation of non-recursive functions, but they do include ‘quantum parallelism’, a method by which certain probabilistic tasks can be performed faster by a universal quantum computer than by any classical restriction of it. The intuitive explanation of these properties places an intolerable strain on all interpretations of quantum theory other than Everett’s. Some of the numerous connections between the quantum theory of computation and the rest of physics are explored. Quantum complexity theory allows a physically more reasonable definition of the ‘complexity’ or ‘knowledge’ in a physical system than does classical complexity theory.

scholarly journals Organisations as Computing Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Strohmaier
Keyword(s):  
Computing System ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Physical Computation ◽  
Computing Systems ◽  
Tenure Status ◽  
Sports Teams ◽  
Modal Claim ◽  
Structured Groups ◽  
Number Of Publications

Abstract Organisations are computing systems. The university’s sports centre is a computing system for managing sports teams and facilities. The tenure committee is a computing system for assigning tenure status. Despite an increasing number of publications in group ontology, the computational nature of organisations has not been recognised. The present paper is the first in this debate to propose a theory of organisations as groups structured for computing. I begin by describing the current situation in group ontology and by spelling out the thesis in more detail. I then present the example of a sports centre to illustrate why one might intuitively think of organisations as computing systems. To substantiate the thesis, I introduce Piccinini’s restrictive analysis of physical computation. As I show, organisations meet all criteria for being computing systems. Organisations are structured groups with the function of manipulating medium-independent vehicles according to rules. Furthermore, I argue for the modal claim that this is a necessary feature of organisations. Having sketched the computational account of organisations, I compare it to other proposals in the literature.

Computation and Information Processing

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-155
Author(s):  
Gualtiero Piccinini
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Process Information ◽  
Physical Computation ◽  
Computing Systems ◽  
Functional Mechanism

This chapter presents a mechanistic account of physical computation and elucidates the relation between computation and information processing. Physical computation is the processing of medium-independent vehicles by a functional mechanism in accordance with a rule. Physical computation may be digital, analog, or of other kinds. Individuating computational vehicles and the functions a system computes requires considering the interaction between a system and its immediate environment; in this sense, computational individuation is externalistic. Information processing is the processing, by a functional mechanism, of vehicles that carry information. In general, computation can occur without information processing and information processing can occur without computation. Nevertheless, typical computing systems process information, and many information processors are computing systems.

Spiritual Healing, Sick Kids and the Law: Inequities in the American Healthcare System

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 269-299
Author(s):  
Janna C. Merrick
Keyword(s):  
Medical Science ◽  
Spiritual Healing ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Human Need ◽  
East End ◽  
The Church

Main Street in Sarasota, Florida. A high-tech medical arts building rises from the east end, the county's historic three-story courthouse is two blocks to the west and sandwiched in between is the First Church of Christ, Scientist. A verse inscribed on the wall behind the pulpit of the church reads: “Divine Love Always Has Met and Always Will Meet Every Human Need.” This is the church where William and Christine Hermanson worshipped. It is just a few steps away from the courthouse where they were convicted of child abuse and third-degree murder for failing to provide conventional medical care for their seven-year-old daughter.This Article is about the intersection of “divine love” and “the best interests of the child.” It is about a pluralistic society where the dominant culture reveres medical science, but where a religious minority shuns and perhaps fears that same medical science. It is also about the struggle among different religious interests to define the legal rights of the citizenry.

Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (01) ◽  
pp. 76-101
Author(s):  
PETER M. SANCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Resource Mobilisation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

Artefact in 20Å-Resolution Electron Images of Negatively Stained Twodimensional Membrane Protein Crystals

1982 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 92-93
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Dorset ◽  
Barbara Moss
Keyword(s):  
Electron Scattering ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Transmission Function ◽  
Group Symmetry ◽  
Asymmetric Structure ◽  
Object Model ◽  
Phase Object ◽  
Computing Systems ◽  
Resolution Electron ◽  
Plane Group

A number of computing systems devoted to the averaging of electron images of two-dimensional macromolecular crystalline arrays have facilitated the visualization of negatively-stained biological structures. Either by simulation of optical filtering techniques or, in more refined treatments, by cross-correlation averaging, an idealized representation of the repeating asymmetric structure unit is constructed, eliminating image distortions due to radiation damage, stain irregularities and, in the latter approach, imperfections and distortions in the unit cell repeat. In these analyses it is generally assumed that the electron scattering from the thin negativelystained object is well-approximated by a phase object model. Even when absorption effects are considered (i.e. “amplitude contrast“), the expansion of the transmission function, q(x,y)=exp (iσɸ (x,y)), does not exceed the first (kinematical) term. Furthermore, in reconstruction of electron images, kinematical phases are applied to diffraction amplitudes and obey the constraints of the plane group symmetry.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document