Physical Uncomputability †
University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
†
Presented at the IS4SI 2017 Summit DIGITALISATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY, Gothenburg, Sweden, 12–16 June 2017.
Proceedings 2017, 1(3), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/IS4SI-2017-04085
Published: 9 June 2017
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of Proceedings of the IS4SI 2017 Summit DIGITALISATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY, Gothenburg, Sweden, 12–16 June 2017.)
The Physical Computability Thesis (PCT) states that the physical world is computable. Sometimes it is argued that a well-evidenced logical principle, the Church-Turing Thesis, entails PCT. But this reasoning is faulty. I argue that it is an open question whether PCT is true: even if the universe is finite, physics may turn out to confound PCT. What would a non-computable physics look like, and what would be the implications for scientists and engineers? I review potential countermodels to various formulations of PCT.
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. |
© 2017 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Copeland, J. Physical Uncomputability. Proceedings 2017, 1, 160. https://doi.org/10.3390/IS4SI-2017-04085
AMA Style
Copeland J. Physical Uncomputability. Proceedings. 2017; 1(3):160. https://doi.org/10.3390/IS4SI-2017-04085
Chicago/Turabian StyleCopeland, Jack. 2017. "Physical Uncomputability" Proceedings 1, no. 3: 160. https://doi.org/10.3390/IS4SI-2017-04085
