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August 06, 2003

Is the Universe A Computer?

The fact that our universe can contain computers is proof that our universe is capable of computation. But does that prove that our universe IS a computer? Certainly the fact that our universe can contain computers means that at least it is equivalent to a computer, but is it limited to computation as we know it, or does it transcend such limitations? The really interesting question is whether or not our universe does things that a computer cannot do. If computers cannot synthesize human intelligence or consciousness, then that proves our universe is not merely a computer, since human intelligence and consciousness takes place within our universe.

Posted on August 06, 2003 at 08:31 AM in Consciousness, Philosophy, Religion, Science, The Future |

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Comments

dvr

My guess is we may never know ... the way computing capablities scale up day by day, we could confidently predict a day, when what we see could be emulated ... to an unsuspecing individual, beyond doubt

Posted by: dvr | March 20, 2005 at 05:50 PM

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    In 1999 I was invited to Russia as a guest of the Russian Space Agency to participate in zero-gravity training on an Ilyushin-76 parabolic flight training aircraft. It was really fun!!!! Among other people on that adventure were Peter Diamandis (founder of the X-Prize and Zero-G Corporation), Bijal Trivedi (a good friend of mine, science journalist), and "Lord British" (creator of the Ultima games). Here are some pictures from that trip...

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