The Universe as a Giant Quantum Computer

by GadgetManiac on July 19, 2006

Seth Lloyd is a professor of Quantum Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and is famously quoted as saying that we’re all stuck in this giant quantum computer called the universe. He does not intend that statement to be a metaphor or an abstraction, but rather quite literally, that we are indeed and in fact assemblages of qubits being programmed and bit-flipped by a giant machine that simply processes information. The idea that the universe is a quantum computer is certainly interesting, and one with many implications, such as the the possibility of reprogramming reality.

Lloyd does not speculate on the universe’s programming language, but one hopes that whatever it is, that it’s some improved variant on QCL, the Quantum Computer Language. And to reassure those of us who are concerned about hackers and the stability of the operating system, and such, he proclaims the universe to be very resilient, able to withstand supernovas and the like … he deadpans in mock relief that “the universe does not run Windows”.

Hacking the Universe – Technology Review, July 11, 2006

Related posts:

  1. D-Wave Quantum Computer Redux
  2. D-Wave Quantum Computer Trashed
  3. Quantum Computer by D-Wave Launches
  4. D-Wave Quantum Computer Might Not Compute
  5. Quantum cryptography goes live

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Daniel P. Fitzpatrick Jr. January 8, 2007 at 3:55 PM

This universe IS a quantum computer:

http://www.amperefitz.com/qtmcomp.htm

Fitz

Reply

Alissa Polansky May 17, 2010 at 12:21 AM

Hello this worked on my HP Pavillion dv6000 also. I got this computer from customer whom said that it is broken. There was a problem that when computer got warm, I mean after 15 seconds, the video failed. After baking motherboard the video is working for now. I’ll report later if the motherboard fails in couple days. My failure on baking was that i put screws on wrong positions. My opinion is to use more screws because my motherboard bended a little. Also I backed it on normal oven so temperature is not so accurate. As a result of that SD card reader on bottom side of motherboard popped off but it is easy to but it back again. I’m not sure if it popped off before removing motherboard from oven. Maybe motherboard should cool longer time in oven but I decided to remove it because motherboard was bending. Temperature which I used was a 200 celsius, cooled 20 minutes outside (I checked temperature of motherboard before putting it back on pc).

Reply

TeamTimmy June 22, 2011 at 1:44 PM

I know a few people who must be glitches in the universe’s programming.

Reply

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