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In the twenty-first century, we no longer
think of reality as particles and force fields. Instead,
scientists and philosophers view the world as a sea of computation.
The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul explains
and expands upon this new way to understand nature, society,
and the mind.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins
with one step," goes the ancient saying. This concept
is at the root of the computational worldview, which basically
says that very complex systems -- the world we live in --
have their beginnings in simple mathematical equations.
We've largely some to understand that such
an algorithm is only the start of a never-ending story --
the real action occurs in the unfolding consequences of
the rules. The chip-in-a-box computers so popular in our
time have acted as a kind of microscope, letting us see
into the secret machinery of the world. In Lifebox,
Rudy Rucker uses whimsical drawings, fables, and humor to
demonstrate that everything is a computation -- that thoughts,
computations, and physical processes are all the same. He
discusses the linguistic and computational advances that
make this kind of "digital philosophy" possible,
and explains how, like every great new principle, the computational
worldview contains the seeds of a next step.
Randy Rucker, Ph.D., is a mathematician,
novelist, software engineer, and former professor of computer
science at San Jose State University. He is best known for
his popular books about science and consciousness, such
as The Fourth Dimension, Infinity and the Mind,
and Mind Tools. The author of thirteen novels, Rucker
is considered one of the core cyberpunk writers. His novels
Software and Wetware each won the Philip K.
Dick Award. Rucker has worked as a software engineer at
Autodesk Inc., where he developed several software packages,
including James Gleik's Chaos: The Software. He was also
coeditor of the famed cyberdelic how-to book, The Mondo
2000 User's Guide to the New Edge. Rucker currently teaches
game programming using his textbook, Software Engineering
and Computer Games.
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