Computational processes, observers and Turing incompleteness

  • Authors:
  • Klaus Sutner

  • Affiliations:
  • -

  • Venue:
  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

We propose a formal definition of Wolfram's notion of computational processes based on iterated transducers together with a weak observer, a model of computation that captures some aspects of physics-like computation. These processes admit a natural classification into decidable, intermediate and complete, where intermediate processes correspond to recursively enumerable sets of intermediate degree in the classical setting. It is shown that a standard finite injury priority argument will not suffice to establish the existence of an intermediate computational process.