About the Book
The universe is made of bits. The way in which the universe registers and processes information determines what it is and how it behaves. It has been known for more than a century that every piece of the universe - every electron, atom, and molecule - registers bits of information. It is only in the last ten years, however, with the discovery and development of quantum computers, that scientists have gained a fundamental understanding of just how that information is registered and processed. Seth Lloyd calls this fundamental understanding of the universe in terms of information processing 'the computational universe', and the purpose of this book is to show how the programmed, computational universe works. Starting from basic concepts of physics, Programming the Universe shows how all physical systems register information. It gives an accessible account of how information is stored and processed at the level of electrons, atoms, and molecules. It shows how the information processing power of the universe can be harnessed to build quantum computers and explains how the universe itself behaves like a gigantic computer, transforming and processing information. It traces the history o
About the Author :
Seth Lloyd is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and a principal investigator at the Research Laboratory of Electronics. He is also adjunct assistant professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His seminal work in the fields of quantum computation and quantum communications has gained him a reputation as an innovator and leader in the field of quantum computing. He has written numerous articles for Nature, New Scientist, Science and Scientific American. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Review :
" Lloyd is one of the gurus of quantum and information theory, and in this accessible book he presents an insightful new perspective on the cosmos."
-- Sir Martin Rees, University of Cambridge
" What an astonishing book! Lloyd is at the forefront of a revolution."
-- Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large, "Wired"
" Lloyd thinks he has found a new way to explain one of the most basic questions in science: Why is the world so complex? . . . Fascinating and profoundly comforting. . . . Seth Lloyd certainly gives his readers a lot of bang for their buck."
-- "The New York Times Book Review"
" Renowned for his innovative conflation of pure physics and computation, Lloyd is well positioned to hack his way into space-time and come back with answers."
-- "Seed"
"Lloyd is one of the gurus of quantum and information theory, and in this accessible book he presents an insightful new perspective on the cosmos."
--Sir Martin Rees, University of Cambridge
"What an astonishing book! Lloyd is at the forefront of a revolution."
--Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large, "Wired"
"Lloyd thinks he has found a new way to explain one of the most basic questions in science: Why is the world so complex? . . . Fascinating and profoundly comforting. . . . Seth Lloyd certainly gives his readers a lot of bang for their buck."
--"The New York Times Book Review"
"Renowned for his innovative conflation of pure physics and computation, Lloyd is well positioned to hack his way into space-time and come back with answers."
--"Seed"
" Reassembling the bits of a shattered Newtonian apple of knowledge into a quantum computer of the Universe, Seth Lloyd has unified the sciences of physics, information, mechanics and complexity in a prodigious book, incandescent with novel ideas and grand syntheses that dare the reader to imagine that we have a new Feynman among us." - George Gilder, author of "Microcosm," "Telecosm," and "The Silicon Eye"
" This is a fascinating book. The author's message is that information is at the core of everything. Weaving in his own intellectual journey towards quantum computation makes it a very exciting read. I was unable to put it down." - Anton Zeilinger, Professor of Physics at the University of Vienna
" The modern version of the grand question ' Mind or Matter?' is ' Information or Physics?' Seth Lloyd has engaged it with enthusiasm and persistence. In his vision, reached after hard study and thought, the question is transcended: the deepest reality is simultaneously information "and" physics." - Frank Wilczek, Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics, MIT, 2004 Nobel Laureate
" Seth Lloyd is one of the gurus of quantum and information theory, and in this accessible book he presents an insightful new perspective on the cosmos." - Sir Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Author of "Just Six Numbers"
" What an astonishing book! Seth Lloyd, a quantum bit wrangler at MIT, proves that not only is the universe really a computer, but the universe is a computer we can program! He is not the first to see the world this way, but he isthe first to translate this mathematical intuition into plain English. Lloyd is at the forefront of a revolution in science that says everything that exists (atoms, energy, space) is just bits of information. The beauty of this book, and Lloyd's heroic achievement, is to transform that utterly outrageous view into a reasonable idea that anyone can begin to understand. A programmable universe is a scientific idea whose time will come in future decades, but you can read it here first." - Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large, "Wired"
" For those readers who love the big questions of existence, they don't get much bigger than this. Seth Lloyd has re-written the cosmology rule book, bringing penetrating insights from the realm of computation to bear on the problems of complexity, life and the universe. This is an entirely new way of tackling some of the deepest scientific mysteries of our time, engagingly explained by one of the world's most creative scientists and leading thinkers." - Paul C. Davies, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia, Author of "How to Build a Time Machine" "From the Hardcover edition."
"Reassembling the bits of a shattered Newtonian apple of knowledge into a quantum computer of the Universe, Seth Lloyd has unified the sciences of physics, information, mechanics and complexity in a prodigious book, incandescent with novel ideas and grand syntheses that dare the reader to imagine that we have a new Feynman among us."-George Gilder, author of "Microcosm," "Telecosm," and "The Silicon Eye"
"This is a fascinating book. The author's message is that information is at the core of everything. Weaving in his own intellectual journey towards quantum computation makes it a very exciting read. I was unable to put it down."-Anton Zeilinger, Professor of Physics at the University of Vienna
"The modern version of the grand question 'Mind or Matter?' is 'Information or Physics?' Seth Lloyd has engaged it with enthusiasm and persistence. In his vision, reached after hard study and thought, the question is transcended: the deepest reality is simultaneously information "and" physics."-Frank Wilczek, Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics, MIT, 2004 Nobel Laureate
"Seth Lloyd is one of the gurus of quantum and information theory, and in this accessible book he presents an insightful new perspective on the cosmos."-Sir Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Author of "Just Six Numbers"
"What an astonishing book! Seth Lloyd, a quantum bit wrangler at MIT, proves that not only is the universe really a computer, but the universe is a computer we can program! He is not the first to see the world this way, but he is the first to translate this mathematical intuition into plain English. Lloyd is at the forefront of arevolution in science that says everything that exists (atoms, energy, space) is just bits of information. The beauty of this book, and Lloyd's heroic achievement, is to transform that utterly outrageous view into a reasonable idea that anyone can begin to understand. A programmable universe is a scientific idea whose time will come in future decades, but you can read it here first."-Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large, "Wired"
"For those readers who love the big questions of existence, they don't get much bigger than this. Seth Lloyd has re-written the cosmology rule book, bringing penetrating insights from the realm of computation to bear on the problems of complexity, life and the universe. This is an entirely new way of tackling some of the deepest scientific mysteries of our time, engagingly explained by one of the world's most creative scientists and leading thinkers."-Paul C. Davies, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia, Author of "How to Build a Time Machine" "From the Hardcover edition."
