The philosophical foundations of digital twinning
Digital twins are a new paradigm for our time, offering the possibility of interconnected virtual representations of the real world. The concept is very versatile and has been adopted by multiple communities of practice, policymakers, researchers, and innovators. A significant part of the digital tw...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Data-Centric Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2632673625000048/type/journal_article |
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| author | David J Wagg Christopher Burr Jason Shepherd Zack Xuereb Conti Mark Enzer Steven Niederer |
| author_facet | David J Wagg Christopher Burr Jason Shepherd Zack Xuereb Conti Mark Enzer Steven Niederer |
| author_sort | David J Wagg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Digital twins are a new paradigm for our time, offering the possibility of interconnected virtual representations of the real world. The concept is very versatile and has been adopted by multiple communities of practice, policymakers, researchers, and innovators. A significant part of the digital twin paradigm is about interconnecting digital objects, many of which have previously not been combined. As a result, members of the newly forming digital twin community are often talking at cross-purposes, based on different starting points, assumptions, and cultural practices. These differences are due to the philosophical world-view adopted within specific communities. In this paper, we explore the philosophical context which underpins the digital twin concept. We offer the building blocks for a philosophical framework for digital twins, consisting of 21 principles that are intended to help facilitate their further development. Specifically, we argue that the philosophy of digital twins is fundamentally holistic and emergentist. We further argue that in order to enable emergent behaviors, digital twins should be designed to reconstruct the behavior of a physical twin by “dynamically assembling” multiple digital “components”. We also argue that digital twins naturally include aspects relating to the philosophy of artificial intelligence, including learning and exploitation of knowledge. We discuss the following four questions (i) What is the distinction between a model and a digital twin? (ii) What previously unseen results can we expect from a digital twin? (iii) How can emergent behaviours be predicted? (iv) How can we assess the existence and uniqueness of digital twin outputs? |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3257b3ebd5ce47518094cd431571028b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2632-6736 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Data-Centric Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-3257b3ebd5ce47518094cd431571028b2025-02-10T07:50:02ZengCambridge University PressData-Centric Engineering2632-67362025-01-01610.1017/dce.2025.4The philosophical foundations of digital twinningDavid J Wagg0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7266-2105Christopher Burr1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0386-8182Jason Shepherd2Zack Xuereb Conti3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6975-2030Mark Enzer4Steven Niederer5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4612-6982The Alan Turing Institute, London, NW1 2DB, United Kingdom Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 3JD, United KingdomThe Alan Turing Institute, London, NW1 2DB, United KingdomFujitsu Services Limited, Lovelace Road, Bracknell, RG12 8SN, United KingdomThe Alan Turing Institute, London, NW1 2DB, United KingdomMott MacDonald, 8-10 Sydenham Road, Croydon, CR0 2EE, United KingdomThe Alan Turing Institute, London, NW1 2DB, United Kingdom Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, United KingdomDigital twins are a new paradigm for our time, offering the possibility of interconnected virtual representations of the real world. The concept is very versatile and has been adopted by multiple communities of practice, policymakers, researchers, and innovators. A significant part of the digital twin paradigm is about interconnecting digital objects, many of which have previously not been combined. As a result, members of the newly forming digital twin community are often talking at cross-purposes, based on different starting points, assumptions, and cultural practices. These differences are due to the philosophical world-view adopted within specific communities. In this paper, we explore the philosophical context which underpins the digital twin concept. We offer the building blocks for a philosophical framework for digital twins, consisting of 21 principles that are intended to help facilitate their further development. Specifically, we argue that the philosophy of digital twins is fundamentally holistic and emergentist. We further argue that in order to enable emergent behaviors, digital twins should be designed to reconstruct the behavior of a physical twin by “dynamically assembling” multiple digital “components”. We also argue that digital twins naturally include aspects relating to the philosophy of artificial intelligence, including learning and exploitation of knowledge. We discuss the following four questions (i) What is the distinction between a model and a digital twin? (ii) What previously unseen results can we expect from a digital twin? (iii) How can emergent behaviours be predicted? (iv) How can we assess the existence and uniqueness of digital twin outputs?https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2632673625000048/type/journal_articleartificial intelligencedigital twincomplexitymodellingphilosophysystems |
| spellingShingle | David J Wagg Christopher Burr Jason Shepherd Zack Xuereb Conti Mark Enzer Steven Niederer The philosophical foundations of digital twinning Data-Centric Engineering artificial intelligence digital twin complexity modelling philosophy systems |
| title | The philosophical foundations of digital twinning |
| title_full | The philosophical foundations of digital twinning |
| title_fullStr | The philosophical foundations of digital twinning |
| title_full_unstemmed | The philosophical foundations of digital twinning |
| title_short | The philosophical foundations of digital twinning |
| title_sort | philosophical foundations of digital twinning |
| topic | artificial intelligence digital twin complexity modelling philosophy systems |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2632673625000048/type/journal_article |
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