The Principle of Computational Equivalence reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Principle of Computational Equivalence

The Principle of computational equivalence is one of main ideas proposed by Stephen Wolfram in his book A New Kind of Science.

The principle states that systems found in the natural world can perform computations up to a maximal ("universal") level of computational power.Most systems can attain this maximal level of computational power.

Systems, in principle, compute the same things as a computer. Computation is therefore simply a question of translating inputs and outputs from one system to another. Consequently, most systems are computationally equivalent. A example of this is the workings of the human brain. Another is the evolution of weather systems.

External Links

• Chapter 12 of "A New Kind of Science"

This is the "Principle of Computational Equivalence" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.