Is the universe actually a giant quantum computer? According to Seth Lloyd—Professor of Quantum-Mechanical Engineering at MIT and originator ...
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Jan 12, 2011
I have mixed feelings about this book. While the content was often interesting, it was also severely lacking in some places. He would make claims that were pivotal to the book's progression and then leave them unexplained. For instance, he would reach an important conclusion that the entropy of this was lower than that and therefore wasn't a violation of the 2nd Law, but would offer no explanation as to how he arrived at this conclusion. He elaborated the importance, but not the path to the
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Aug 07, 2011
I originally picked up the book to gain insights into the information-theoretic explanations for Entropy. Along the way, I picked up a good general sense of the information-theoretic explanation of physics, the universe, and the potential GUT. As far as understanding entropy goes, though, I am not much closer than I was when I started.
Read this book to get a generic idea on how quantum computers work, and for a general outline on how the ideas behind them affect our understanding of physics, and More...
Read this book to get a generic idea on how quantum computers work, and for a general outline on how the ideas behind them affect our understanding of physics, and More...
May 02, 2011
Antonio
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The idea of the universe as a computer is not new, of course. Lloyd declares that from the very beginning and continues to explain in some detail several theories that have seen the universe as such a machine. Then, he asserts that in fact the universe is a quantum computer and from there, plenty of new stuff spread over the book. Lloyd describes briefly, but concisely quantum theory and its relevant aspects to create a quantum computer. The final chapter about measuring complexity was particula
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Dec 17, 2008
DJ
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I read this book in the midst of a wave of readings on viewing the world as information (cybernetics, thermodynamics, information theory). I can't say it introduced many new concepts to this conversation, but more importantly, Seth Lloyd is a wizard with strange analogies that cast old ideas in new frameworks. Many scientists are so obsessed with the importance of their ideas (read: Stephen Wolfram) that they'd be horrified to toss them around and play with them like a child learning new words
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Jan 23, 2008
Larry
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I’ve been reading this book for a while. Non-fiction books except history books) always take me longer, as I like to check the facts, absorb the ideas…yeah, I know, it reminds some of you of schoolwork.
Dr. Lloyd’s book is full of ideas worth absorbing, the main one being that the universe is a continually running quantum computer. His book is an excellent mix of computer science, quantum mechanics and information theory, three subjects that can get quite difficult to explain separate More...
Dr. Lloyd’s book is full of ideas worth absorbing, the main one being that the universe is a continually running quantum computer. His book is an excellent mix of computer science, quantum mechanics and information theory, three subjects that can get quite difficult to explain separate More...
Mar 13, 2010
Gendou
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Very interesting. Silly, at times, complete with monkeys programming computers. Finally, a satisfactory resolution to the problem of a low-entropy boundary condition of the big bang!! Not sure Lloyd's idea of quantum information theory as a road to quantum gravity is realistic, however. Gets an A for effort.
Aug 11, 2010
Tyler
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A really interesting look into quantum physics, entropy, and how it's mathematically possible that the universe was created at random.
I want to read it a second time, those are things I remember off the top of my head from my first read.
I want to read it a second time, those are things I remember off the top of my head from my first read.
Apr 02, 2009
Hollis
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Interesting and fascinating ideas about quantum computers - truly 'universal' ideas that are mind-bending. I was intrigued and found it interesting, despite realizing I just didn't 'get' much of it in a deep way and finally decided I'd had enough
Feb 02, 2011
Natasha
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Somewhat interesting, but pretty dry. He also repeats a lot of examples over and over. I learned some new facts, but Lloyd couldn't convince me to view the universe as a giant computer with bits, qubits to be precise.
Oct 18, 2007
Deana
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This book was extremely interesting. Seth Lloyd explains in fairly easy-to-understand terms (provided you have a small amount of background with computer science and physics) the concepts behind building a quantum computer (using atoms to compute and store data), the fact that the entire universe is computing, descriptions on how to get electrons to compute things, and the secret to living indefinitely (and many, many more cool topics). It was a relatively quick read, very informative and intere
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Jul 02, 2011
E
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Needs 2 readings |3 star first reading> + |5 start second reading> = |4 star>
Jan 12, 2011
Gprime
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This book blew my mind. I now think we are living in one huge quantum computer.
Mar 24, 2011
Adrian
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Interesting take on several fields - quantum mechanics, physics of the origin of the universe. Humor only added to book's lucidity. Worth a shot.
May 05, 2010
Vincent
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Quantum computing has been a topic that I have dedicated much personal study to. This book was a nice easy read on basic quantum theory. All hypothesizes that the universe is a large scale quantum computer
Jun 03, 2007
Matt
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Quantum physics, not to mention quantum computing, is a pretty heady topic. This book did an excellent job of explaining basics of how quantum mechanical laws can be leveraged to perform computations and the potential power of quantum computers for parallelism. My only complaint is that there were a couple of sections on the author's personal life which dulled the book some given that I was looking purely of a good introduction to the topic, not his personal life.
Feb 06, 2011
Martin
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Second half of the book is much stronger than the first half. Some of the later parts about information processing in the universe are quite fascinating - as is the central premise: the universe is a quantum computer.
Mar 18, 2008
Tim
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The target audience is fairly niche (people with a logical scientific or computing background, but unschooled in the field of information theory), and his conclusions are somewhat radical to an outsider, but his ideas are well presented and absolutely fascinating.
For the pop-science crowd, this is a worthy and thought provoking read, although I'm not sure how well it would translate to someone without any background in science or computing.
For the pop-science crowd, this is a worthy and thought provoking read, although I'm not sure how well it would translate to someone without any background in science or computing.
Feb 10, 2008
Stuart
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I recommend reading this book before Charles Seife's "Decoding the Universe" which covers similar material. While both are great, Programming the Universe I think better explains Information Theory and Quantum Computers. I read Decoding The Universe first and still wasn't sure how information and matter were supposed to be the same thing. With this book I had the Ah-ha moment.
Nov 16, 2010
Excalibur2099
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Interesting view of the universe that made me think about information and computation, but sometimes not as clear as I wished it was.
Jun 26, 2008
Nathan
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Programming the Universe was very hard for me to finish. despite how interesting I find information theory, quantum mechanics, and computer science, I just could not tolerate Seth Lloyd's writing. Extracting the underlying concepts from his disorderly descriptions is as tedious a process as getting pure metal from raw ore.
Jul 07, 2010
Timothy
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Fascinating look into the theory that the universe is one big computation engine processing bits and producing reality via those pesky quantum fluctuations. This book originally came out in 2006 so I guess I need to do some research to see if anything has progressed with this theory.
Jul 16, 2007
ccccurt
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I should add this book to the sorta read list. I don't have a firm enough grasp of all things quantum to really get this book, but fragments of it were useful. The book further convinced me that everything is information.
Aug 23, 2008
Aaron
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A look at what makes the universe really tick. The book isn't terribly dense, and most concepts are explained in a way that even remotely computer- and scientifically-minded people can understand.
Jun 05, 2008
Steven
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Lloyd deconstructs physics and turns everything into data/information and shows how the whole universe is a working quantum computer.
Jan 21, 2008
Lorin
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Lloyd offers a creative vision of the universe flipping its bits to build up its own programming of the forms emergent around us.
Jun 20, 2008
Ethan
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Lots of fun ideas here, but Seth Lloyd is not exactly mister personality.
