Well-known examples of computation inspired by natural phenomenon are quantum computers and DNA computers.What is known about the potential and/or limitations of computing with Maxwell's laws or gravity?That is, incorporating nature's quick solutions to Maxwell's equations or the n-body problem directly into a general-purpose algorithm?
Natural computation based on fundamental forces
computability;machine models;physics;natural computing
It's not clear what an algorithm based on natural forces implies. Arguably, a quantum computer already operates based on 'natural principles' (excluding gravity, but including Maxwell's equations). What are the atomic steps in your 'natural algorithm' ? If you're talking about taking an $n$-body system and letting it evolve to perform a computation, how would you measure its running time ? Along these lines though, Roger Brockett did some interesting work in the 80s on viewing sorting and linear programming as the solution to a dynamical system. 