It seems the world is not discrete!

-
In a recent paper  entitled "Bounds on Spectral Dispersion from Fermi-Detected Gamma Ray Bursts",  Robert J. Nemiroff and his colleagues use scientific data to disprove the idea that space-time is "foamy" at the Planck scale. Apparently, this is really bad news for the aficionados of digital physics, phoilosophy, etc. 

Σχόλια

Δημοσίευση σχολίου

Δημοφιλείς αναρτήσεις από αυτό το ιστολόγιο

Is the Universe a Quantum Computer?

-
 The idea that the Universe (whatever we may mean by this) is a some sort of a computer is a recurring theme. Recently, Nature published an article by David L. Chandler that is entitled Could the Universe be a giant quantum computer? This article is actually a tribute to Edward Fredkin, who passed away last June. The main contribution of Fredkin to the philosophy of science is his "digital philosophy" that advocates the idea that the universe is a computer and everything in our universe is discrete. I would not like to argue against the validity of these ideas (I have done so in Hypercomputation: Computing Beyond the Church-Turing Barrier and in Demystifying Computation: A Hands-On Introduction ) . However, I would like to point out that if the Universe is not a computing device, in general, then it cannot be a quantum computer, in particular. Also, what I did not like with Chandler's article is that it takes it for granted that the Universe is a computer. He did not e...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα