The Recursive Universe Quotes

“There is better reason than ever for believing that the structure and complexity of our world is inherent in our physical laws and not in some special, unknowable microstate. The universe is a recursively defined geometric object.”
― William Poundstone, The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge

“Science is not and cannot be a quest for a complete knowledge of the universe. Rather, it is a process whereby certain information is selected as being more relevant to human aims and understanding.”
― William Poundstone, The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge

“Life is a sort of spreadsheet program in which each cell’s action is dictated by its neighbors.”
― William Poundstone, The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge

“In view of this, it may seem remarkable that anything as complex as a text of Hamlet exists. The observation that Hamlet was written by Shakespeare and not some random agency only transfers the problem. Shakespeare, like everything else in the world, must have arisen (ultimately) from a homogeneous early universe. Any way you look at it, Hamlet is a product of that primeval chaos.”
― William Poundstone, The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge

“Complexity is self-generating. The diversity of our world is understandable because it is possible to design imaginary self-consistent worlds potentially as complex as our own.     This is no mere restatement of common sense. Everyone daydreams alternate worlds, but the imagination soon tires of filling in details. Ulam, Von Neumann, and Conway showed that a few recursive rules can paint in all the details. Creation can be simple.”
― William Poundstone, The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge

“Past generations were most concerned with the material side of creation: How could something come from nothing? Cosmologists now recognize another, informational side of creation. Creation of a world entails above all information. The state of everything—everywhere—at every time—must be defined. The most economical way to specify such information is through a complexity-generating recursion of physical law.”
― William Poundstone, The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge