On the Computing Spacetime

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Fotini Markopoulou has published a paper entitled The Computing Spacetime. The first sentence of this paper is: That the Universe can be thought of as a giant computation is a straightforward corollary of the existence of a universal Turing machine. This is a very bold statement, to say the least. We have absolutely no idea what are the (ultimate) laws of the universe and yet we can immediately prove that it is a gigantic computer! Now let's see the proof:
The laws of physics allow for a machine, the universal Turing machine, such that its possible motions correspond to all possible motions of all possible physical objects. That is, a universal quantum computer can simulate every physical entity and its behavior. This means that physics, the study of all possible physical systems, is isomorphic to the study of all programs that could run on a universal quantum computer. We can think of our universe as software running on a universal computer.
First let me remark that Markopoulou confuses universal Turing machines with universal quantum computers, which means, I suppose, that she assumes that the Church-Turing thesis is valid. Second, it is known that the Turing machine operates in a Newtonian universe and naturally does not take under consideration any quantum phenomena. Third, to say that physics is essentially equivalent to the study of quantum programming is a fallacy because we have no idea what are the ultimate laws of universe. Unless, of course, we assume that fairytale physics is real physics. In this case, it is crystal clear that we are talking nonsense.

As with fairytale physics, the problem with the the-Universe-is-a-computer paradigm is that there is no experimental evidence that actually the universe computes something. In fact, I am pretty sure that this is something like an Illuminati conspiracy theory rather than a real scientific theory. Naturally, please bear on mind that the problem of quantifying gravity has not been solved yet.

PS Today (20/02/2014) I discovered a preprint entitled  The Universe is not a Computer. In this paper the author puts forth an interesting argument against the validity of the idea that the universe is a computer.

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A comment on a comment

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Recently, "someone" posted a review of my book on hypercomputation on the Brains site. The reviewer argues that This area is full of problems, some of which are physico/mathematical and some of which are conceptual. Unfortunately, from a quick sample, Syropolous's book does not avoid common mistakes and confusions—some of which I've been trying to correct in my own work. First of all, I have to admit that back in 2004 I read a paper by this reviewer, but at that time I did not considered it interesting. However, after I read this review of my book, I read The Physical Church-Turing Thesis: Modest or Bold? , the reviewer's latest manuscript, in order to see what he meant by common mistakes and confusions and how he was trying to solve them. In this manuscript, the reviewer puts forth a number of criteria that every machine has to satisfy in order to be ``useful for physical computing.'' These criteria are: Readable Inputs and Outputs Process-Independ...
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Is the Universe a Quantum Computer?

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 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...
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