Oracles and Advice as Measurements

Edwin Beggs; José Félix Costa; Bruno Loff; John V. Tucker

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-85194-3_6

International Conference on Unconventional Computation

UC 2008: Unconventional Computing pp 33-50

Oracles and Advice as Measurements

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Authors and affiliations

Edwin Beggs
José Félix Costa
Bruno Loff
John V. Tucker

Conference paper

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-85194-3_6

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 5204)

Cite this paper as:: Beggs E., Costa J.F., Loff B., Tucker J.V. (2008) Oracles and Advice as Measurements. In: Calude C.S., Costa J.F., Freund R., Oswald M., Rozenberg G. (eds) Unconventional Computing. UC 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5204. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

Abstract

In this paper we will try to understand how oracles and advice functions, which are mathematical abstractions in the theory of computability and complexity, can be seen as physical measurements in Classical Physics. First, we consider how physical measurements are a natural external source of information to an algorithmic computation, using a simple and engaging case study, namely: Hoyle’s algorithm for calculating eclipses at Stonehenge. Next, we argue that oracles and advice functions can help us understand how the structure of space and time has information content that can be processed by Turing machines. Using an advanced case study from Newtonian kinematics, we show that non-uniform complexity is an adequate framework for classifying feasible computations by Turing machines interacting with an oracle in Nature, and that by classifying the information content of such a natural oracle, using Kolmogorov complexity, we obtain a hierarchical structure based on measurements, advice classes and information.

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Authors and Affiliations

Edwin Beggs
- 1
José Félix Costa
- 2
- 3
Bruno Loff
- 2
- 3
John V. Tucker
- 1

1.School of Physical SciencesSwansea UniversityWalesUnited Kingdom
2.Department of Mathematics, Instituto Superior TécnicoUniversidade Técnica de LisboaLisboaPortugal
3.Centro de Matemática e Aplicações Fundamentais do Complexo InterdisciplinarUniversidade de LisboaLisboaPortugal

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Oracles and Advice as Measurements

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