Can NP-complete problems be solved efficiently in the physical universe?
I survey proposals including soap bubbles, protein folding, quantum
computing, quantum advice, quantum adiabatic algorithms,
quantum-mechanical nonlinearities, hidden variables, relativistic time
dilation, analog computing, Malament-Hogarth spacetimes, quantum
gravity, closed timelike curves, and "anthropic computing." The ... more >>>

We give evidence for a stronger version of the extended Church-Turing thesis: among the set of physically possible computers, there are computers that can simulate any other realizable computer with only additive constant overhead in space, time, and other natural resources. Complexity-theoretic results that hold for these computers can therefore ... more >>>