1. Suppose you are God… …how would you do it? Karl Svozil /ITP/TUVienna svozil@tuwien.ac.at http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~svozil This source at http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~svozil/publ/2003-dw.ppt Copyright (c) 2003 Karl Svozil @ svozil@pop.tuwien.ac.at 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 License".svozil@pop.tuwien.ac.atGNU Free Documentation License,

2. 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?

3. 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. http://www.google.at/search?q=pythagoras+world+as+numbers&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&metahttp://www.google.at/search?q=pythagoras+world+as+numbers&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta= http://www.bartleby.com/181/341.html Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867). Age of Fable: Vols. I & II: Stories of Gods and Heroes. 1913.

4. Plato (c. 427- c. 347 B.C.) „God geometrizes“ [Plutarch (Convivialium disputationum, liber 8,2): „Plato said God geometrizes continually“] http://sunsite.utk.edu/math_archives/.http/hypermail/historia/may99/0202.html

5. K. F. Gauss (1777-1855) …„o theos arithmetizei“ = “God computes“ http://sunsite.utk.edu/math_archives/.http/hypermail/historia/may99/0202.html

6. D. Hilbert (1862-1943) 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 http://babbage.clarku.edu/~djoyce/hilbert/problems.html

7. Gödel (1906-78) & Turing (1912-54) 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“

8. E. Wigner (1902-1995) „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).

9. Von Neumann (1903-57) „Theory of Self- Reproducing [[Universal Cellular]] Automata“ (1966)

10. 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. 129-153.

11. K. Zuse (1910-1995) „Rechnender Raum“ = „Calculating Space“ Konrad Zuse, Rechnender Raum, Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig, 1969. English translation: Calculating Space, MIT Technical Translation AZT-70-164-GEMIT, MIT (Proj. MAC), Cambridge, Mass. 02139, Feb. 1970 http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/digitalphysics.html

12. T. Toffoli & E. Fredkin Reversible Computation Role of the Observer in Uniform Systems Digital Mechanics „The Universe is a cellular automaton “ Digital Philosophy http://www.digitalphilosophy.org/ http://digitalphysics.org/

13. S. Wolfram (et al ;) … Is there any physics left to be done after ANKOS (=A New Kind of Science)? http://www.math.usf.edu/~eclark/ANKOS_reviews.html

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

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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!

18. 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

19. … continued… „Atomism“ is very suitable for digital simulation (identical parts, recyclable,…) Physical undecidability by uncomputability (Casti‘s Red Herring http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~svozil/publ/casti.htm) “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?

20. 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) = 11 659 177(7) × 10^-10 a(experi) = 11 659 204(7)(5) × 10^-10 http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ex/0211044 or this: http://link.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v60/p1067 Neutron double slit experiment

21. … 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...

22. Thank you for listening!