> Yet another interesting article from the economist.
---- Owen
I am an iPad, resistance is futile!
Begin forwarded message:
> A QUANTUM CALCULATION
> Apr 22nd 2010
>
>
> A physicist argues that information is at the root of everything
>
> DECODING REALITY: THE UNIVERSE AS QUANTUM INFORMATION. By Vlatko
> Vedral. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; 256 PAGES; $29.95 AND GBP16.99. Buy
> from Amazon.com[1], Amazon.co.uk[2]
>
>
> ONE of the most elusive goals in modern physics has turned out to be
> the creation of a grand unified theory combining general relativity and
> quantum mechanics, the two pillars of 20th-century physics. General
> relativity deals with gravity and time and space; quantum mechanics
> with the microscopic workings of matter. Both are incredibly successful
> in their own domains, but they are inconsistent with one another.
>
> For decades physicists have tried to put the two together. At the heart
> of the quest lies the question, of what is the universe made? Is it
> atoms of matter, as most people learned in school? Or some sort of
> energy? String theory, currently a popular idea, holds that the
> universe is made up of tiny vibrating strings. Other equally esoteric
> candidates abound. Indeed, cynics claim that there are as many grand
> unified theories as there are theoretical physicists attempting
> unification.
>
> Now Vlatko Vedral, an Oxford physicist, examines the claim that bits of
> information are the universe's basic units, and the universe as a whole
> is a giant quantum computer. He argues that all of reality can be
> explained if readers accept that information is at the root of
> everything.
>
> So what is information? Mr Vedral's notion of information is not the
> somewhat fuzzy concept most people have of it, but a precise
> mathematical definition that owes itself to Claude Shannon, an American
> mathematician considered to be the father of "information theory".
> Shannon worked at Bell Labs, at the time the research arm of AT&T,
> a telephone giant, and in the 1940s became interested in how much
> information could be sent over a noisy telephone connection. This led
> him to calculate that the information content of any event was
> proportional to the logarithm of its inverse probability of occurrence.
> (Unlike many popular-science books that eschew equations, Mr Vedral
> includes a couple and tries his best to explain them to the reader.)
> What does the equation mean? As Mr Vedral points out, it says that an
> unexpected, infrequent event contains much more information than a more
> regular happening.
>
> Once he has defined information, Mr Vedral proceeds to show how
> information theory can be applied to biology, physics, economics,
> sociology and philosophy. These are the most interesting parts of the
> book. Of particular note is the chapter on placing bets. Mr Vedral
> gives a good description of how Shannon's information theory can be
> applied to winning at blackjack or in buying shares (Shannon and his
> friends made fortunes in Las Vegas as well as on the stockmarket). And
> his exposition of climate change and how to outwit the CIA make
> entertaining reading. One quibble: Mr Vedral often digresses from the
> point at hand, so the overall effect tends to be a bit meandering.
>
> Mr Vedral's professional interests lie in quantum computing and quantum
> information science, which use the laws of quantum mechanics
> respectively to build powerful computers and render codes unbreakable.
> There is a lot of discussion of both, which is very welcome because
> there are not many popular science books that cover these relatively
> young fields. Quantum computers, as Mr Vedral points out, "are not a
> distant dream". Though still rudimentary, "they can solve some
> important problems for us that conventional computers cannot."
>
> Unusually for a physicist, Mr Vedral spends a fair bit of time talking
> about religious views, such as how God created the universe. He asks
> whether something can come out of nothing. Throughout the ages
> philosophers and theologians have debated this question with respect to
> Judeo-Christian faiths, in which dogma holds that the world was created
> from the void, CREATION EX NIHILO. Others side with King Lear who tells
> Cordelia that "Nothing can come of nothing." Mr Vedral makes a
> persuasive argument for a third option: information can be created out
> of nothing.
>
> -----
> [1] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0199237697/theeconomists-20
> [2]
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0199237697/economistshop-21
>
> See this article with graphics and related items at
> http://www.economist.com/culture/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15949137
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