Computation is ubiquitous, acting on scales as small as those of particles, up to systems like living creatures. From a mathematical perspective, Nature can be viewed as a computing system. In this context, the laws of physics can be construed as mathematical functions that map inputs onto outputs --- something of the likes of algorithms. A universal computer can store only a limited amount of information because the universe that is physically accessible is finite in space and time. In this essay, I discuss how the concept of predictability changes in light of the computational limit of the Universe. I argue that undecidability emerges naturally in this digital-physicalist view of Nature, and that it severely hinders the prospects for finding an ontic theory of everything.
Rafael Alves Batista