Unifying Computing and Cognition: The SP Theory and its Applications

TL;DR

The SP Theory proposes a unified framework for understanding and designing information processing in both computers and brains through information compression, covering diverse cognitive and computational functions.

Contribution

It introduces the SP theory as a comprehensive model unifying various aspects of cognition and computation based on information compression principles.

Findings

Provides a unified view of Turing machines, knowledge, and natural language processing.

Offers a basis for designing an SP computer with potential advantages.

Integrates probabilistic reasoning, pattern recognition, and learning in a single framework.

Abstract

This book develops the conjecture that all kinds of information processing in computers and in brains may usefully be understood as "information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search". This "SP theory", which has been under development since 1987, provides a unified view of such things as the workings of a universal Turing machine, the nature of 'knowledge', the interpretation and production of natural language, pattern recognition and best-match information retrieval, several kinds of probabilistic reasoning, planning and problem solving, unsupervised learning, and a range of concepts in mathematics and logic. The theory also provides a basis for the design of an 'SP' computer with several potential advantages compared with traditional digital computers.