From: Eugen Leitl (eugen@leitl.org)
Date: Mon May 13 2002 - 07:44:45 MDT
On Sun, 12 May 2002, Ziana Astralos wrote:
> On Sun 12 May 2002 Lee Corbin <lcorbin@tsoft.com>:
> > ...
> > First, would someone define computronium?
> > ...
>
> >From http://www.extropy.org/ideas/lextropicon.html :
>
> "Computronium : Matter that has been transformed from its natural state into a
> computer of the maximum physically achievable efficiency. (An Extropian might
> argue that this is matter's "natural state".) What constitutes "computronium"
> varies with the level of postulated technology; a rod-logic nanocomputer is
> probably too primitive, since the basic elements consist of hundreds or
> thousands of atoms. More likely forms of computronium include three-dimensional
> quantum cellular automata, or exotic forms of matter such as neutronium,
> Higgsium, and monopolium. [Definition by Eliezer Yudkowsky]"
That's an incorrect definition. Computronium is a generic term for a
number of molecular CA architectures. It is not necessarily optimal, and
it is restricted to vanilla matter strictly. It is not a moving target in
design space.
The concept has been first introduced by Margolus. See:
Ivan Amato, "Speculating in Precious Computronium," Science 253,
August 1991, 856-857.
"Margolus shares a similiar vision: a cellular automaton computer with
components on the atomic or molecular scale. ''Such a machine would a kind
of computing crystal with all parts participating in the computation,''
Margolus says -- a lump of ''pure computronium''".
See "Ultimate Theoretical Models of Nanocomputers" by Michael P. Frank and
Thomas F. Knight, Jr
http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~mpf/Nano97/paper.html for
for more constraints for an optimal (omega-grade) computronium.
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