Theory of Computing: A Scientific Perspective (Extended Abstract) * Oded Goldreich t Avi Wigdersont August 2, 1997 Theory of Computation (TOC) seeks to understand computational phenomena, be it natural, man-made or imaginative. TOC is an independent scientific discipline of fundamental importance. Its intrinsic goals (those which were achieved, those which are yet to be achieved, and those which are yet to be defined) transcend the immediate applicability to engineering and technology. Research in TOC has been extremely successful and productive in the few decades of its existence, with continuously growing momentum. This research has revolutionized the understanding of computation and has deep scientific and philosophical consequences which will be further recognized in the future. Moreover, this research and its dissemination through education and interaction was responsible for enormous technological progress. Much of the full version of our manuscript [2] is devoted to substantiating the strong statements made above. Here, due to space limitations, we merely list a few of the fundamental achievements of TOC. ¢ Revolutionizing the perception of knowledge and information, stressing that different representations of the same information may not be computationally equivalent. Consequently, TOC has emphasized the importance of data representation, and developed efficient methods
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