[lit-ideas] Re: [correction] Fwd: small addendum to Matrix as philosophy
- From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 19:57:35 -0500
Robert Paul writes:
: Peter writes:
:
: > And the basic idea that the universe is computable goes back to Leibnitz.<
:
: As I don't understand what it means for the universe to be 'computable' I can
: not
: really say if the idea goes back to Leibniz or not, but I'd be interested to
: learn where Leibniz might have said something that provides grounds for this
: notion.
My authority, such as it is, is in the URL that I included in the message.
<URL: http://www.math.usf.edu/~eclark/ANKOS_zuse_fredkin_thesis.html>.
I knew about Fredkin and Wolfram but when I was looking them up in
Google I found the basis for my references to Zuse and Leibnitz,
both of whom I only knew of in other contexts.
The reference says Leibnitz "caused a stir by claiming that everything
is computable.'' I substituted "the universe" for everything. Since
the universe, whatever it is, would seem to a subset of everything,
I don't think I distorted that statement in any serious way.
As to what ``computable'' means, my understanding is that it
means computable by a computer or a Turing machine or the
equivalent. See:
<URL: http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~squire/reference/computable.shtml>.
--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
EMAIL: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu
NOTE: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx no longer exists
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