If we consider our observable universe as a computation, it's rather atypical in that it doesn't seem to make use of the erase operation (or other any operation that irreversibly erases information). The second law of thermodynamics is a consequence of this. In order to forget anything (decrease entropy), we have to put the information somewhere else (increase entropy of the environment), instead of just making it disappear. If this doesn't make sense to you, see Seth Lloyd's new book "Programming the Universe : A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos" for a good explanation of the relationship between entropy, computation, and information.
Has anyone thought about why this is the case? One possible answer is that if it were possible to erase information, life organisms would be able to construct internal perpetual motion machines to power their metabolism, instead of competing with each other for sources of negentropy, and perhaps intelligence would not be able to evolve in this kind of environment. If this is the case, perhaps there is reason to hope that our universe does contain mechanisms to erase information, but they are not easily accessible to life before the evolution of intelligence. It may be a good idea to look out for such mechanisms, for example in high energy particle reactions. However I'm not sure this answer is correct because there would still be competition for raw material (matter and energy) where intelligence can still be an advantage. Anyone have other ideas? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
