Physical computation : a mechanistic account / Gualtiero Piccinini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Piccinini, Gualtiero, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computational complexity.

Computer science--Philosophy.

Computer science.

Philosophy and cognitive science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 313 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Mechanistic account

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Computation permeates our world, but a satisfactory philosophical theory of what it is has been lacking. Gualtiero Piccinini presents a mechanistic account of what makes a physical system a computing system. He argues that computation does not entail representation or information-processing, although information-processing entails computation.

Contents:

1.Towards an Account of Physical Computation

2.Mapping Accounts

3.Semantic Accounts

4.Pancomputationalism

5.From Functional Analysis to Mechanistic Explanation

6.The Ontology of Functional Mechanisms

7.The Mechanistic Account

8.Primitive Components of Computing Mechanisms

9.Complex Components of Computing Mechanisms

10.Digital Calculators

11.Digital Computers

12.Analog Computers

13.Parallel Computers and Neural Networks

14.Information Processing

15.The Bold Physical Church-Turing Thesis

16.The Modest Physical Church-Turing Thesis.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-306) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed July 7, 2015).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-174815-3

0-19-163342-9

OCLC:

913214378