Programming the Universe: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|2006 book by Seth Lloyd}}

{{Infobox Book

| name = Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos

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| series =

| subject = [[Quantum mechanics]], [[quantum computers]]

| genre = Non-fiction[[Nonfiction]]

| publisher = [[Alfred A. Knopf]]

| pub_date = 2006

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}}

'''''Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos''''' is a 2006 [[popular science]] book by [[Seth Lloyd]], professor of [[mechanical engineering]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. The book proposes that the universeUniverse is a [[quantum computer]] ([[supercomputer]]), and advances in the understanding of [[physics]] may come from viewing [[entropy]] as a phenomenon of [[information]], rather than simply [[thermodynamics]]. Lloyd also postulates that the universeUniverse can be fully simulated using a quantum computer; however, in the absence of a theory of [[quantum gravity]], such a simulation is not yet possible. "Particles not only collide, they compute."<ref>Lloyd, Seth, ''Programming the Universe'', Alfred A. Knopf, 2006, 978-1-4000-4092-6</ref>

==Reaction==

Reviewer [[Corey S. Powell]] of ''The New York Times'' writes:

<blockquote>In the space of 221 dense, frequently thrilling and occasionally exasperating pages, …... tackles computer logic, thermodynamics, chaos theory, complexity, quantum mechanics, cosmology, consciousness, sex and the origin of life — throwinglife—throwing in, for good measure, a heartbreaking afterword that repaints the significance of all that has come before. The source of all this intellectual mayhem is the kind of Big Idea so prevalent in popular science books these days. Lloyd, a professor of mechanical engineering at M.I.T., takes as his topic the fundamental workings of the universe…universe..., which he thinks has been horribly misunderstood. Scientists have looked at it as a ragtag collection of particles and fields while failing to see what it is as a majestic whole: an enormous computer.<ref>{{cite news

| last = Powell

| first = Corey S.

| title = Welcome to the Machine

| worknewspaper = The New York Times

| publisher = ''The New York Times''

| date = April 2, 2006

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/books/review/02powell.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

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In an interview with ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' magazine, Lloyd writes:

<blockquote>everything in the universe is made of bits. Not chunks of stuff, but chunks of information — onesinformation—ones and zeros. …... Atoms and electrons are bits. Atomic collisions are "ops." Machine language is the laws of physics. The universe is a quantum computer.<ref>{{cite news

| title = Life, the Universe, and Everything

| work = Issue 14.03

| publisher = ''Wired''

| date = March 2006

| url = https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.03/play.html?pg=4

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==External links==

*{{official website|http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/lloyd/}}

*[http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/lloyd/scientist.html Chapter 7, Director’s Cut: It from Qubit] (not included in the book)

* ''Ultimate physical limits to computation'', [[Nature (journal)|Nature]], volume 406, pages 1047&ndash;1054