That&#x27;s a cool paper. It touches on a question I&#x27;ve had before about how much of our algorithmic reasoning is predicated on the implementation of CPUs and our current tech stack.<p>For example, I understand that it&#x27;s been proved that sorting can at best be done in O(n*log(n)), I guess related to the number 1-to-1 comparisons that need to be done.<p>However, how does sorting, say, the physical length of sticks come into this? If you stand them all in a bundle you can easily select out the tallest, and then the next tallest, etc, by e.g., lowering a sticky horizontal plate.<p>It&#x27;s beyond my cleverness to think about how that could be implemented in a useful way for a computer, but could we prove that it&#x27;s not possible? Could we have custom-designed units for specialized operations that take advantages of differences between the digital&#x2F;analog world?