The Physics–Computation Boundary Is Disappearing

Short reflections from CEPA on the emerging scientific convergence between physical laws, computational models, and energy systems.

Over the past decade, the separation between physical theory and computational intelligence has steadily eroded. What used to be distinct domains — mathematical physics, energy engineering, machine learning, biological modeling — are now interacting with unprecedented depth.

At CEPA, we interpret this shift as an early signal of a broader structural change in scientific methodology:
computation is becoming physical, and physical systems are becoming computational.

AI models are increasingly governed by physical constraints

Large-scale machine learning systems are no longer abstract mathematical objects.
Their capabilities are shaped by:

• thermodynamic limits of hardware

• energy efficiency of training

• materials science of semiconductor fabrication

• physical layout of compute clusters

In other words, the “intelligence frontier” is now an energy frontier.

Physical systems are now modeled as computational systems

Modern physics and engineering increasingly rely on:

• differentiable simulations

• physics-informed neural networks (PINNs)

• generative models for materials discovery

• data–driven climate and fluid models

These tools blur the line between equation and algorithm, expanding the way physical theories are explored and tested.

Energy, information, and complexity are converging

Across fields, three quantities keep reappearing:

• energy (conservation, flows, dissipation)

• information (entropy, inference, learning)

• complexity (networks, emergence, adaptive systems)

This triad now shapes progress in:

• battery technologies

• renewable grid management

• genetic and biological modeling

• planetary-scale climate analytics

• quantum and condensed-matter systems

It suggests that the next phase of scientific insight may emerge from hybrid models that treat energy + information as inseparable.

CEPA’s position in this emerging landscape

This convergence is exactly why CEPA was created.

Our work sits at the interface of:

• theoretical physics

• energy systems

• computation, analytics, and data-driven science

CEPA will continue to explore this boundary — not as a collection of isolated topics, but as a single interconnected frontier.

- CEPA