Recent theoretical results confirm that quantum theory provides the possibility of new ways of performing efficient calculations. The most striking example is the factoring problem. It has recently been shown that computers that exploit quantum features could factor large composite integers. This task is believed to be out of reach of classical computers as soon as the number of digits in the n...

Our essay begins with explication of the notion of eigenform as pioneered by Heinz von Foerster in his papers (Foerster, 1981, pp. 258–271, pp. 274–285, pp. 288–309) and explored in papers of the author (Kauffman, 2003, pp. 73–90, 2005, pp. 129–150; 2009, pp. 121–137, 2010, pp. 48–89). In Foerster (1981, pp. 274–285) the familiar objects of our existence can be seen as tokens for the behaviors ...