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Towards Formalizing Non-Monotonic Reasoning In Physics: Logical Approach Based On Physical Induction And Its Relation To Kolmogorov Complexity, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To formalize some types of non-monotonic reasoning in physics, researchers have proposed an approach based on Kolmogorov complexity. Inspired by Vladimir Lifschitz's belief that many features of reasoning can be described on a purely logical level, we show that an equivalent formalization can be described in purely logical terms: namely, in terms of physical induction.

One of the consequences of this formalization is that the set of not-abnormal states is (pre-)compact. We can therefore use Lifschitz's result that when there is only one state that satisfies a given equation (or system of equations), then we can algorithmically find this state. …