Debating computational irreducibility: if you've computed the Mandelbrot set, is the program just compression?
ctjlewis · x · 2026-10-06
A discussion on computational irreducibility: ctjlewis argues that if you computed a region of the Mandelbrot set and saved it to disk, you never need to run it again — the work is done. Conversely, if the end state is unknown, you must actually execute the program.
The open question: for known operations like AB no computation is needed, but when inputs come from another system and outputs are unknown, is the running program the most efficient representation of the answer — or merely good compression of a giant lookup table?
Related event: Mandelbrot Set Sparks Debate on Computational Irreducibility(2 posts)→
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