Saturday, July 27, 2013

the cosmic computer


This blog is not to be confused with the science fiction novel by H. Beam Piper.


The premise that our universe is a computer has several formulations, so there are several meanings to that expression. This blog will collect my own writing on what this could mean.


image from Maybe Quarterly



3 comments:

  1. Yes, the universe is a computer.

    http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3054

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    Replies
    1. The transition from "the cosmic computer" to "the comics computer" is not that big!

      Interesting that there can be two meanings of "analog": technically "non-digital" (as in the case of "analog computer") and "bearing an analogy to something else".

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    2. I'd say the two meanings are pretty similar, in that an analog device does indeed work by analogy. For example the magnetic stripes on an audio cassette are directly analogous to the pressure waves of the acoustic vibrations being recorded. Digital devices, on the other hand, use sophisticated encodings so there is no direct analogy.

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