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"What really interests me," Einstein
once remarked, "is whether God had any choice in the
creation of the world." In other words, is there any
reason why an electron weighs exactly .00000000000000000000000000091096
grams? Does the speed of light have to be 299,792.456 kilometers
per second? Or might these numbers have been a little different?
Could electrons weigh a little more, light travel a little
faster?
Although these questions may seem impossible
to answer, it is a startling fact that physicists are beginning
to believe that the universe in all its complexity derives
from quite simple rules applied and reapplied over vast
periods of time, and that this universe is the only one
possible. If this is true, what are the rules? How can we
figure them out and see how they work? Is there anything
in our everyday experience that can show us how the unimaginable
complexity of the universe could have grown out of the application
of simple laws? Poundstone approaches these questions from
a unique point of view: by analogy with the computer hackers'
pastime called "Life."
"Life" is in no sense an ordinary
computer game. It has no winners, no losers, and no end.
It is less a game than a demonstration of logical possibilities.
It is based on three simple rules, which, applied repeatedly
-- "recursively" to use mathematical term -- produce
complex, unpredictable, and even quite beautiful patterns
of light and dark on a computer screen -- a complexity,
unpredictability, and beauty that perfectly reflects those
very qualities of our own universe.
In alternating chapters, Poundstone illuminates
the discoveries of modern physics and demonstrates the intricate
patterns that the rules of "Life" produce. Can
we draw an analogy between the rules of "Life"
the game and the rules that have resulted in the creation
of Life itself? Is creation, in this sense, simple? It is
the lucid discussion of this question that makes The
Recursive Universe one of the most compelling books
about science ever written.
William Poundstone, who studied physics
at M.I.T., is a writer who lives in New York City. He is
the author of Big Secrets (Morrow) and has published
articles in the Los Angeles Times and in Esquire,
Harper's, New West, Oui, and other
magazines.
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