Decoding Reality : the Universe as Quantum Information
For a physicist, all the world's information. The Universe and its workings are the ebb and flow of information. We are all transient patterns of information, passing on the recipe for our basic forms to future generations using a four-letter digital code called DNA. In this engaging and mind-stretching account, Vlatko Vedral considers some of the deepest questions about the Universe and considers the implications of interpreting it in terms of information. He explains the nature of information, the idea of entropy, and the roots of this thinking in thermodynamics. He describes the bizarre eff
1 online resource (292 pages)
9780191636295, 0191636290
784886711
Cover Page; Title Page; Copyright page; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgements; Prologue; 1 Creation Ex Nihilo: Something from Nothing; 2 Information for all Seasons; 3 Back to Basics: Bits and Pieces; Part One; 4 Digital Romance: Life is a Four-Letter Word; 5 Murphy's Law: I Knew this Would Happen to Me; 6 Place Your Bets: In It to Win It; 7 Social Informatics: Get Connected or Die Tryin'; Part Two; 8 Quantum Schmuntum: Lights, Camera, Action!; 9 Surfing the Waves: Hyper-Fast Computers; 10 Children of the Aimless Chance: Randomness versus Determinism; Part Three. 11 Sand Reckoning: Whose Information is It, Anyway?12 Destruction ab Toto: Nothing from Something; Epilogue; Notes; Index