"Is the Cosmos a Vast Computer Simulation?" New Theory May Offer Clues
If the cosmos is a numerical simulation, there ought to be clues in the spectrum of high energy cosmic rays. Now more than two thousand years since Plato suggested that our senses provide only a weak reflection of objective reality, experts believe they have solved the riddle using mathetical models known as the lattice QCD approach in an attempt to recreate - on a theoretical level - a simulated reality. Lattice QCD is a complex approach that that looks at how particles known as quarks and gluons relate in three dimensions. "We consider ourselves on some level universe simulators because we calculate the interactions of particles by basically replacing space and time by a grid and putting it in a box," said Beane. "In doing that we face lots of problems for instance the box and the grid size breaks Einstein's special theory of relativity so we know how to fix this in order to get physical predictions that are meaningful." Image credit: With thanks to Rex Features
D-Wave Systems
D-Wave Systems, Inc. is a quantum computing company, based in Burnaby, British Columbia. On May 11, 2011, D-Wave System announced D-Wave One, labeled "the world's first commercially available quantum computer," operating on a 128 qubit chip-set[1] using quantum annealing [2][3][4][5] to solve optimization problems. In May 2013 it was announced that a collaboration between NASA, Google and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) launched a Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab based on the D-Wave Two 512 qubit quantum computer that would be used for research into machine learning, among other fields of study.[6] The D-Wave One was built on early prototypes such as D-Wave's Orion Quantum Computer. Technology description[edit] D-Wave maintains a list of peer-reviewed technical publications on their website, authored by D-Wave scientists and by third party researchers. History[edit] Orion prototype[edit] According to Dr. 2009 Google demonstration[edit] D-Wave One computer system[edit]
Zuse's Thesis - Zuse hypothesis - Algorithmic Theory of Everything - Digital Physics, Rechnender Raum (Computing Space, Computing Cosmos) - Computable Universe - The Universe is a Computer - Theory of Everything
Konrad Zuse (1910-1995; pronounce: "Conrud Tsoosay") not only built the first programmable computers (1935-1941) and devised the first higher-level programming language (1945), but also was the first to suggest (in 1967) that the entire universe is being computed on a computer, possibly a cellular automaton (CA). He referred to this as "Rechnender Raum" or Computing Space or Computing Cosmos. Many years later similar ideas were also published / popularized / extended by Edward Fredkin (1980s), Jürgen Schmidhuber (1990s - see overview), and more recently Stephen Wolfram (2002) (see comments and Edwin Clark's review page ). Zuse is careful: on page 337 he writes that at the moment we do not have full digital models of physics, but that does not prevent him from asking right there: which would be the consequences of a total discretization of all natural laws? Zuse does not claim to have a complete theory of everything in form of the precise algorithm computing our universe.
UNMAKEABLELOVE
Generational list of programming languages
Here, a genealogy of programming languages is shown. Languages are categorized under the ancestor language with the strongest influence. Of course, any such categorization has a large arbitrary element, since programming languages often incorporate major ideas from multiple sources. ALGOL based[edit] APL based[edit] BASIC based[edit] Batch languages[edit] C based[edit] COBOL based[edit] COMIT based[edit] DCL based[edit] DCLWindows PowerShell (also under C#, ksh and Perl) ed based[edit] Eiffel based[edit] Forth based[edit] Fortran based[edit] FP based[edit] HyperTalk based[edit] Java based[edit] JOSS based[edit] Lisp based[edit] ML based[edit] PL/I based[edit] Prolog based[edit] SASL Based[edit] SETL based[edit] sh based[edit] Sh Simula based[edit] Tcl based[edit] Others[edit] External links[edit] Diagram & history of programming languages
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Indra's net
"Imagine a multidimensional spider's web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. Indra's net (also called Indra's jewels or Indra's pearls, from इंद्रजाल in Sanskrit) is a metaphor used to illustrate the concepts of emptiness, dependent origination,[3] and interpenetration[4] in Buddhist philosophy. The metaphor of Indra's net was developed by the Mahayana school in the 3rd century scriptures of the Avatamsaka Sutra and later by the Huayan school between the 6th and 8th centuries. Huayan school[edit] Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. Proto-Sāṃkhya and early Buddhism[edit] Cognition[edit] Indra[edit] Buddhism[edit] Time[edit] Atharva Veda[edit]
UCSB scientists discover how the brain encodes memories at a cellular level
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a major discovery in how the brain encodes memories. The finding, published in the December 24 issue of the journal Neuron, could eventually lead to the development of new drugs to aid memory. The team of scientists is the first to uncover a central process in encoding memories that occurs at the level of the synapse, where neurons connect with each other. "When we learn new things, when we store memories, there are a number of things that have to happen," said senior author Kenneth S. Kosik, co-director and Harriman Chair in Neuroscience Research, at UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute. "One of the most important processes is that the synapses –– which cement those memories into place –– have to be strengthened," said Kosik. This is a neuron. (Photo Credit: Sourav Banerjee) Part of strengthening a synapse involves making new proteins. When the signal comes in, the wrapping protein degrades or gets fragmented.
Digital physics
Digital physics is grounded in one or more of the following hypotheses; listed in order of decreasing strength. The universe, or reality: History[edit] The hypothesis that the universe is a digital computer was pioneered by Konrad Zuse in his book Rechnender Raum (translated into English as Calculating Space). The term digital physics was first employed by Edward Fredkin, who later came to prefer the term digital philosophy.[3] Others who have modeled the universe as a giant computer include Stephen Wolfram,[4] Juergen Schmidhuber,[5] and Nobel laureate Gerard 't Hooft.[6] These authors hold that the apparently probabilistic nature of quantum physics is not necessarily incompatible with the notion of computability. Related ideas include Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker's binary theory of ur-alternatives, pancomputationalism, computational universe theory, John Archibald Wheeler's "It from bit", and Max Tegmark's ultimate ensemble. Overview[edit] Weizsäcker's ur-alternatives[edit]
