I've always been fascinated by Nonlinear physics and chaotic systems. The fact that they can be measured and categorized and show up in interesting places like the brain and Universe structure is intriguing. I came across this interesting article where some scientists found that applying chaotic forces to pendulums connected by springs (a classic nonlinear system), resulted in ordered motion, an unexpected result.
So, going off on a tangent,this reminded me of a conversation I had a while ago regarding quantum computers. I was interested that quantum computers would be better at certain types of problems than traditional computers. This made me wonder if other types of computers were possible that would be better able to handle specific types of problems. The only other type I could think of was maybe a chaotic computer, where instead of bits, chaotic systems interacted in order to calculate. I know there are circuits that behave chaotically, and I'm sure electrical or optical devices could be made with these properties. If possible, I would think chaotic computers would lend itself to calculations regarding large scale networks, like the brain.
So is it possible?, and how would it be built? I'd be interested to hear if anyone has heard of work on this or think it's possible (or useful).
chaos
