[voidhorse]

Computation as realized by computers is a formalism invented by Turing, Church, Kleene and others to make precise the intuitive notion of "algorithm".

An algorithm, at its root, is a procedure rooted in human understanding that human beings can follow.

When Turing and others first introduced this formal notion, not all mathematicians were even fully convinced it was an adequate representation of the informal intuitive notion. For example, some argued it was too broad because traditionally knowing that an algorithm eventually terminates was one of the requirements (to some) for something to be a legitimate algorithm. Why? Because the idea is rooted in human practical concerns and human understanding. Depending on what one cares about, one could actually reject the Turing formalization of algorithm on grounds of the class containing non-convergent (partial) functions.

All this is to say that "computation" is very much a human invention and little more than a formal model of human behaviors (we want to manipulate things algebraically). Elevating it to some objective substance of the universe is just doing 17th/18th century philosophical Idealism wrapped in new clothes.

[peter_m1]

The computational view of the universe and the nature of reality has provided us with some new insights.

[voidhorse]

Sure, others would also claim the "financial view" of the universe has also provided insight. That doesn't mean I go around claiming the money is some fundamental universal substance of the real.