When Does the Universe Compute? 182
KentuckyFC writes "The idea that every physical event is a computation has spread like wildfire through science. That has triggered an unprecedented interest in unconventional computing such as quantum computing, DNA computing and even the ability of a single-celled organism, called slime mold, to solve mazes. However, that may need to change now that physicists have worked out a formal way of distinguishing between systems that compute and those that don't. One key is the ability to encode and decode information. 'Without the encode and decode steps, there is no computation; there is simply a physical system undergoing evolution,' they say. That means computers must be engineered systems based on well understood laws of physics that can be used to predict the outcome of an abstract evolution. So slime mold fails the test while most forms of quantum computation pass."
Re:Definitions (Score:4, Informative)
doesn't seem to have any application to understanding our universe.
If we are a simulation, we may be able to discern exactly what we're simulating, and why. Theology aside, even discovering that our universe functions like a simulation may allow us to seek out and utilize aspects of the simulation that are useful to us.
Consider, for example, if we could simply access an information store outside our universe from anywhere within it. Even a single bit being accessible would offer the ability to have near-instant communications with other planets, or perhaps even other stars. If we could push matter out of or into the universe, we'd have an effective teleportation mechanism.
Science is all about figuring out the rules of our universe. Being inside a simulation means there are other, possibly different, rules outside, so breaking out means we have new capabilities that are impossible within our universe.