Origami Unfolds Computational Potential: Beyond Paper Art to Turing Completeness

In a fusion of art and science, mathematicians Inna Zakharevich and Thomas Hull have unfolded an intriguing possibility: origami, the ancient art of paper folding, can perform any computation that a traditional computer can.

This revelation places origami alongside other unconventional computational systems like Conway’s Game of Life. The duo's approach involved translating logical operations like AND and OR into specific folds and crease patterns in paper, demonstrating that these can simulate a simpler, one-dimensional version of Conway’s Game of Life, which is known to be Turing complete.

While the idea of an origami computer might seem more like a whimsical notion than a practical tool – after all, calculating the digits of π or optimizing global delivery routes with paper folds might not be the most efficient method – this discovery has profound implications.

It highlights the limitless potential of seemingly simple, everyday materials and activities. As origami finds applications in engineering, from space-bound solar panels to medical stents, could this ancient art inspire a new wave of computational thinking, melding the tactile and the theoretical in unforeseen ways?

Read the full article on Quanta Magazine.

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