Physical Aspects of Computing

Considering physical systems as information processors has proven enormously fruitful and illuminating: the computer as a metaphor. However, computers do not constitute an independent separate world. They are natural systems themselves, subject to the laws of physics and the limitations they entail for their functioning. This last part of the book is intended to integrate computing systems into their broader context in nature, to explain why on the one hand, they are “nothing but” physical dynamical systems, and on the other, to understand what makes them special—if anything. In the same sense that the first part, inspired by Wheeler’s “It from bit” [Whe90a, Whe90b], interpreted natural systems as computers, the following sections complement it with the “Bit from it” [AFM15]. They provide an overview from a new perspective; they are not intended as an outline, even rudimentary, of the theory of computation. For comprehensive monographs and anthologies on this subject, see, e.g., Refs. [BEZ00, CT06]. Analyzing computers as dynamical physical systems can shed light on both sides, on physics and on computing.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Departamento de Física, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

   Thomas Dittrich

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Correspondence to Thomas Dittrich .

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