Why this model?

Here I collect the questions and distinctions that led me to Matter As Machine. They are reasons to explore the model, not evidence that it is correct.

Execution and computation

There is a popular assumption in physics that led its authors nowhere, as far as I know. This assumption is: what if everything is computation?

I cannot agree.

Why?

In this project, I use “computation” to mean execution with a goal. The distinction below explains how I use these terms, rather than claiming a universal definition of computation.

Computation is not even fundamental. It is only one specific type of execution: execution with a goal.

A computer program computes because someone defines input, output, and purpose. Matter does not need that. Matter only needs to execute its rules.

If our universe has no goal, then how can everything be computation?

It cannot.

This distinction leads to the starting question in Everything is execution. Whether the model works must be judged through its predictions and tests, not through this distinction alone.