Phlogistic Computing

The practice of careful, deliberate control over the motions of soulfire for the purposes of computation. The structured engram responsible for abstracting such computation is referred to as a thought engine. It is sometimes thought that the brain encodes a thought engine of some kind.

Theory

Applications

The theory finds itself applied to almost every conceivable field, but most notably those of computation and reckoning, of which there is a distinct difference between the two.

• Reckoning is the practice of developing one's internal capabilities; assembling a symbolic manipulator in the soul. These require intense mental discipline, but essentially no active soulfire production for results.
• Computing is the practice of constructing an external engine or engram. This requires a notable amount of external soulfire to replace that which is lost to combustion, but any given engram can be run by any individual with enough willpower, soulflow, and capacitance.

Architecture

Thought engines have two key advantages over mechanical computers: a lack of physical limitations like heat dissipation and signal noise, and a protean structure. This leads to many unique features, including volumetric circuitry, multiphasic memory, and true abstract simulation.

Given that all phlogistic computers operate based on unrestricted logic, they are capable of perfectly emulating any physical method of computing, except for true error. For example, a phlogistic computer is perfectly capable of running probabilistic algorithms that depend upon physical phenomenon, such as a common method of prime factorization.