Nature-inspired computation (NIC) is a heuristic optimization concept and a novel thinking pattern of computational intelligence by imitating various operating mechanisms effectively in nature.This paper studies the relationship between unification and diversity of NIC models from the dialectical perspective of natural philosophy.First

a kind of general framework for studying NIC is proposed;Second

all kinds of existing NIC models are systemic summarized in this paper

from inspiration source to research branch

from computing models to their applications

from hardware-software implements to computer development

as well as other aspects;Finally

based on the proposed unification concept of NIC models

calculation principle and analysis framework of the unification of NIC is refined and presented.