Suppose you are God… …how would you do it? Karl Svozil /ITP/TUVienna This source at Copyright (c) 2003 Karl Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify these documents under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation Free Documentation License,

Some broader context…awakening Are we at the center of the Universe? — No, but we seem to be quite conveniently located within our galaxy. Are our bodies made-up of solid stuff? — No, our bodies are „almost“ empty. Things only appear to be solid. Were we created in a different way than other species? — No, we evolved and spread just like locusts & everyone else around. Are we up to further disillusionments? Are we „fleshware,“ units inside a (what to us appears gigantic) simulation/computation?

Pythagoras (6th cent. B.C.) … considered numbers as the essence and principle of all things, and attributed to them a real and distinct existence; so that, in his view, they were the elements out of which the universe was constructed. Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867). Age of Fable: Vols. I & II: Stories of Gods and Heroes

Plato (c c. 347 B.C.) „God geometrizes“ [Plutarch (Convivialium disputationum, liber 8,2): „Plato said God geometrizes continually“]

K. F. Gauss ( ) …„o theos arithmetizei“ = “God computes“

D. Hilbert ( ) Twenty-three problems of 1900: #2: The compatibility of the arithmetical axioms #6: Mathematical treatment of the axioms of physics #10: Determination of the solvability of a diophantine equation

Gödel ( ) & Turing ( ) Formalization of Mathematics by coding of axiomatic systems, which are representable as (universal) computer programs Precise definition of „Universal Computation“ (Turing machine is modeled after pencil&paper operations) wich is „robust“ „true > provable“

E. Wigner ( ) „The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences“ Richard Courant Lecture delivered at New York University, May 11, 1959 and published in Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics 13, 1 (1960).

Von Neumann ( ) „Theory of Self- Reproducing [[Universal Cellular]] Automata“ (1966)

E. F. Moore „Gedanken-Experiments on Sequential Machines“ (1956) Automaton Uncertainty Principle Two modes of measurement Automata Studies, ed. by C.E.Shannon and J.McCarthy, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, pp

K. Zuse ( ) „Rechnender Raum“ = „Calculating Space“ Konrad Zuse, Rechnender Raum, Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig, English translation: Calculating Space, MIT Technical Translation AZT GEMIT, MIT (Proj. MAC), Cambridge, Mass , Feb

T. Toffoli & E. Fredkin Reversible Computation Role of the Observer in Uniform Systems Digital Mechanics „The Universe is a cellular automaton “ Digital Philosophy

S. Wolfram (et al ;) … Is there any physics left to be done after ANKOS (=A New Kind of Science)?

The (humble?) rest … Not too many researchers pursuing Digital Mechanics: J. Schmidhuber, N. Margolus, K.Svozil (not very lately), Jim Crutchfield…., among others…

Some of my results… Automaton logic Intrinsic =/= extrinsic Space-time frame generation by intrinsic observers K. Svozil, ``Randomness and Undecidability in Physics'‚ (World Scientific, Singapore, 1993), xvi+292 p.

Space-time of intrinsic CA observers CA rules of a light clock (below), and CA light clock evolution (right) „universality“ and „robustness“ makes this Model independent

Let‘s face it: Digital Physics is utterly non mainstream & off-topic! Today‘s physics is continuum physics; even quantum theory just discretizes the number of quanta within a mode. Modes are still continuous! What is it good for? Is it Ideology (according to Popper, but who cares about Popper anyway)? What about „non-locality“ and „contextuality“? Not good for your career as a physicist!

Some mind-boggling speculations Automaton Logic very similar to Quantum Logic Relativity-Type transformation laws of frames constructed by radar coordinates (Alexandrov‘s theorem,…) Intrinsic-Extrinsic setup (Systems Science) Interfaces & Dualism & the Eccles Telegraph

… continued… „Atomism“ is very suitable for digital simulation (identical parts, recyclable,…) Physical undecidability by uncomputability (Casti‘s Red Herring “Zoo hypothesis” (cf. F.Sagan’s “Contact” with aliens) Maybe we are simulations; e.g., for marketing purposes Maybe there is just one consistent Universe? Maybe free will is an illusion?

Not much empirical evidence … (indeed, is there any?) How could we ever find out? Some claims, none convincing. Ultimate physical justification is experiment. Competing with “traditional” continuum physics is hard; e.g., take this: anomalous magnetic Moment of the Muon a(theory) = (7) × 10^-10 a(experi) = (7)(5) × 10^-10 or this: Neutron double slit experiment

… but it is fun & inspiring! Daniel F. Galouye, Simulacron 3 (1964); stimulated R. W. Fassbender’s “Welt am Draht” & “Thirteenth Floor” H. Putnam, “Reason, Truth and History” (“Brain in a vat”) “Total Recall” “Matrix”, of course...

Thank you for listening!