Beyond the Computer: Toward an Intelligent and Autonomous General-Purpose Computing and Communication Device
Abstract
Computers have traditionally been designed and understood as identifiable physical devices that provide computational resources, communication interfaces, operating systems, and applications. However, users rarely seek a computer as an end in itself. Instead, they seek outcomes that require computation, communication, information processing, coordination, and interaction with digital or physical environments. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for an intelligent and autonomous general-purpose computing and communication device (IAGCC), an alternative paradigm in which the primary objective is not to provide access to a predefined computing machine but to autonomously satisfy users' computational and communication needs. Under this paradigm, a device is defined primarily by the functions it can provide rather than by its physical boundaries, fixed hardware configuration, or predefined application structure. Depending on a user's goals, available resources, environmental conditions, and operational constraints, the system may dynamically combine local processing, remote computing, distributed services, communication networks, software agents, and human interaction. The framework distinguishes outcome-oriented service provision from device-oriented interaction and introduces a task-driven model for capability selection, resource orchestration, autonomous execution, and adaptive reconfiguration. A formal optimization model is presented to represent task satisfaction, computational cost, communication overhead, latency, energy consumption, reliability, privacy, and user effort. The paper further develops architectural principles, design propositions, potential applications, evaluation criteria, and a research agenda. Rather than claiming that existing computing paradigms are inadequate or that the proposed framework has already been experimentally validated, this work establishes a conceptual foundation for investigating how computing and communication systems might evolve from user-operated machines into autonomous providers of general-purpose digital capabilities.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhang2026beyond,
title = {{Beyond the Computer: Toward an Intelligent and Autonomous General-Purpose Computing and Communication Device}},
author = {Jincheng Zhang},
howpublished = {Zenodo},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23591813},
url = {https://zenodo.org/records/23591813},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Beyond the Computer: Toward an Intelligent and Autonomous General-Purpose Computing and Communication Device
AU - Jincheng Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
PB - Zenodo
DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23591813
UR - https://zenodo.org/records/23591813
AB - Computers have traditionally been designed and understood as identifiable physical devices that provide computational resources, communication interfaces, operating systems, and applications. However, users rarely seek a computer as an end in itself. Instead, they seek outcomes that require computation, communication, information processing, coordination, and interaction with digital or physical environments. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for an intelligent and autonomous general-purpose computing and communication device (IAGCC), an alternative paradigm in which the primary objective is not to provide access to a predefined computing machine but to autonomously satisfy users' computational and communication needs. Under this paradigm, a device is defined primarily by the functions it can provide rather than by its physical boundaries, fixed hardware configuration, or predefined application structure. Depending on a user's goals, available resources, environmental conditions, and operational constraints, the system may dynamically combine local processing, remote computing, distributed services, communication networks, software agents, and human interaction. The framework distinguishes outcome-oriented service provision from device-oriented interaction and introduces a task-driven model for capability selection, resource orchestration, autonomous execution, and adaptive reconfiguration. A formal optimization model is presented to represent task satisfaction, computational cost, communication overhead, latency, energy consumption, reliability, privacy, and user effort. The paper further develops architectural principles, design propositions, potential applications, evaluation criteria, and a research agenda. Rather than claiming that existing computing paradigms are inadequate or that the proposed framework has already been experimentally validated, this work establishes a conceptual foundation for investigating how computing and communication systems might evolve from user-operated machines into autonomous providers of general-purpose digital capabilities.
ER -