Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Computation

The edge of reductionism

Nature volume 459, pages 332–333 (2009)Cite this article

Research at the frontier between computer science and physics illustrates the shortcomings of the reductionist approach to science, which explains macroscopic behaviour using microscopic principles.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Evolution of a cellular automaton.

DAVID J. ECK

References

  1. Anderson, P. W. Science 177, 393–396 (1972).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hawking, S. W. Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics? (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Gu, M., Weedbrook, C., Perales, A. & Nielsen, M. A. Physica D 238, 835–839 (2009).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Percus, A., Istrate, G. & Moore, C. (eds) Computational Complexity and Statistical Physics (Oxford Univ. Press, 2006).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Wolfram, S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 735–738 (1985).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Binder, P.-M. Nature 455, 884–885 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Benenson, Y., Gil, B., Ben-Dor, U., Adar, R. & Shapiro, E. Nature 429, 423–429 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Toffoli, T. & Margolus, N. Cellular Automata Machines (MIT Press, 1987).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Cook, M. Complex Systems 15, 1–40 (2004).

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Domany, E. & Kinzel, W. Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 311–314 (1984).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. Moore, C. Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 2354–2357 (1990).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Bennett, C. H. Nature 346, 606–607 (1990).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Siegelmann, H. T. Science 268, 545–548 (1995).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. P.-M. Binder is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Hilo, Hawaii 96720, USA, and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara. pbinder@hawaii.edu,

    P.-M. Binder

Authors
  1. P.-M. Binder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Binder, PM. The edge of reductionism. Nature 459, 332–333 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459332a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459332a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing