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5 - The computational universe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

By
Lloyd Seth
Edited by
Paul Davies  and
Niels Henrik Gregersen
Lloyd Seth
Affiliation:
W. M. Keck Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paul Davies
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Niels Henrik Gregersen
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
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Summary

It is no secret that we are in the midst of an information-processing revolution based on electronic computers and optical communication systems. This revolution has transformed work, education, and thought, and has affected the life of every person on Earth.

The information-processing revolutions

The effect of the digital revolution on humanity as a whole, however, pales when compared with the effect of the previous information-processing revolution: the invention of moveable type. The invention of the printing press was an information-processing revolution of the first magnitude. Moveable type allowed the information in each book, once accessible only to the few people who possessed the book's hand-copied text, to be accessible to thousands or millions of people. The resulting widespread literacy and dissemination of information completely transformed society. Access to the written word empowered individuals not only in their intellectual lives, but in their economic, legal, and religious lives as well.

Type
Chapter
Information
Information and the Nature of Reality
From Physics to Metaphysics
 , pp. 118 - 133
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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References

Borel, E. (1909). Éléments de la Théorie des Probalités. Paris: A. Hermann et Fils.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N., Hauser, M. D., and Tecumseh Fitch, W. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve. Science, 22(2): 1569–1579.Google Scholar
Chuang, I. A., and Nielsen, M. A. (2000). Quantum Computation and Quantum Information. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ehrenfest, P., and Ehrenfest, T. (2002). The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics. New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Gell-Mann, M., and Hartle, J. B. (1994). The Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry, ed. Halliwell, J., Pérez-Mercader, J., and Zurek, W.. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lloyd, S. (2006). Programming the Universe. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Shannon, C. E., and Weaver, W. (1963). The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar

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  • The computational universe
    • By Lloyd Seth, W. M. Keck Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Edited by Paul Davies, Arizona State University, Niels Henrik Gregersen, University of Copenhagen
  • Book: Information and the Nature of Reality
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107589056.007
Available formats
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  • The computational universe
    • By Lloyd Seth, W. M. Keck Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Edited by Paul Davies, Arizona State University, Niels Henrik Gregersen, University of Copenhagen
  • Book: Information and the Nature of Reality
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107589056.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The computational universe
    • By Lloyd Seth, W. M. Keck Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Edited by Paul Davies, Arizona State University, Niels Henrik Gregersen, University of Copenhagen
  • Book: Information and the Nature of Reality
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107589056.007
Available formats
×