A hierarchical view on Evolution-In-Materio computations

Abstract

Evolution-In-Materio, an unconventional computing paradigm exploiting physical properties of materials for achieving computations, is addressed here as a system which exhibits dynamical hierarchies. A description of computations is provided to show that computations within Evolution-In-Materio systems arise from the dynamics at different hierarchical levels. An information theoretic approach to formalising the notion of dynamical hierarchies is used. The approach is based on the descriptions of the system at different hierarchical levels. The concrete material addressed in this paper is a carbon nanotube / polymer nanocomposite. The choice of material is based on previous work motivated by a number of experiments conducted on such material samples. Presented findings are valuable for several reasons: better understanding of computations within Evolution-In-Materio systems, useful hints to modelling this kind of unconventional computations, useful ideas for further development of similar unconventional computing systems such as using quantum properties of charge carriers within the material and the magnetic field for guiding the search for the solution of the computational problem at hand.