Information and Computation

Abstract

Causation can be understood as a computational process once we understand causation in informational terms. I argue that if we see processes as information channels, then causal processes are most readily interpreted as the transfer of information from one state to another. This directly implies that the later state is a computation from the earlier state, given causal laws, which can also be interpreted computationally. This approach unifies the ideas of causation and computation. A complication is the irreducible nature of many complexly organized systems. I offer a solution to this problem for the information transfer interpretation of causation.

Floridi’s “Open Problems in Philosophy of Information”, Ten Years Later

“…The quest for a general concept of information that goes beyond family resemblances is still there as can be testified by several publications during the last decade e.g., by Lyre [40], von Baeyer [41], Roederer [42], Seife [43], Dodig-Crnkovic [44], Muller [45], Brier [46], Kauffman et al [47], Hofkirchner [48], Burgin [37], Davies and Gregersen [49], and Dodig-Crnkovic and Burgin [50]. It seems legitimate to put the heuristic questions accordingly, 'Can the static and the dynamic aspect of information be integrated when considering the static as result, and starting point, of the dynamic aspect?…”

“…Van Benthem explores consequences of the 'dynamic stance' for logic as well as for cognitive science in a way which smoothly connects to the program of Philosophy of Information. [58] On [50].…”

“…Symbols represent something for a living organism; they have a function as carriers of meaning. See Menant's article in [50] (p. 255).…”

Dynamics of Information as Natural Computation

“…Burgin emphasizes that category theory is also "used as unifying framework for physics, biology, topology, and logic, as well as for the whole mathematics. This provides a base for analyzing physical and information systems and processes by means of categorical structures and methods" [27].…”

“…According to pancomputationalism (naturalist computationalism) [2][3][4][5]17,18,26,27,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] one can view the time development (dynamics) of physical states in nature as information processing, and learn about its computational characteristics. Such processes include self-assembly, developmental processes, gene regulation networks, gene assembly in unicellular organisms, protein-protein interaction networks, biological transport networks, and similar.…”