The Bit and the Pendulum: From Quantum Computing to M Theory- The New Physics of Information - Hardcover

Siegfried, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471321745 ISBN 13: 9780471321743

Publisher: Wiley, 2000

Synopsis

"Funny, clear, deep, and right on target. [Siegfried] lets us get a handle on ideas that are essential for understanding the evolving world."
-K. C. Cole, author of The Universe and the Teacup
"An eager, ambitious book. A stimulating, accessible introduction to scientific theory."
-Dallas Morning News
An award-winning journalist surveys the horizon of a new revolution in science
Everything in the universe, from the molecules in our bodies to the heart of a black hole, is made up of bits of information. This is the radical idea at the center of the new physics of information, and it is leading to exciting breakthroughs in a vast range of science, including the invention of a new kind of quantum computer, millions of times faster than any computer today. Acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried offers a lively introduction to the leading scientists and ideas responsible for this exciting new scientific paradigm.

About this title

About the Author

TOM SIEGFRIED is the science editor of the Dallas Morning News. He is the recipient of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Westinghouse Award for science journalism.

From the Back Cover

"Funny, clear, deep, and right on target, Tom Siegfried?s The Bit and the Pendulum is a friendly guide to a profound revolution now taking place on the forefront of science. From the horizons of black holes to the inner recesses of the human brain, bits are us and everything else too. Taking a lighthearted approach to weighty ideas, Siegfried takes us into the tangled web of quantum teleportation, curled up extra dimensions of space and time, and the wetware of computational cells. He lets us get a handle on ideas that are essential for understanding the evolving world." —K. C. Cole, author of The Universe and the Teacup

Is all life made up of yes-no, heads-tails decisions? Is the computer, with its binary 0?1 "bits" of information, our best model yet for describing the universe? Acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried offers a fascinating introduction to the hot new physics of information. The Bit and the Pendulum takes us on a thrilling journey from quantum teleportation, to DNA computing, to the insides of black holes and other cosmological puzzles. Siegfried interviews top scientists biologists working with the mathematics of DNA, quantum physicists studying quantum cryptography, and neuroscientists mapping the mysterious workings of the brain all using the mysteries of information science to solve the seemingly unsolvable. Lively, engaging, and topical, The Bit and the Pendulum shows how the computer and the "bit" are revealing secrets of the brain, the nature of matter, and the workings of the universe.

From the Inside Flap

"Today, the realization that information is physical is at the heart of a new fashion in science. It's a fashion that may help forge a new understanding of the complexity of the universe, the secrets of time, space, life, and the brain . and our role in reality." Tom Siegfried Will it be possible in the twenty-first century to teleport objects from one place to another? Will superfast quantum computers usher in an even more powerful second computer revolution? Is our universe only one of an infinite number of universes? What do all of these questions have to do with the radical new theory that "everything is information"? In the groundbreaking The Bit and the Pendulum, acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried introduces readers to the frontiers of the radical new physics of information, and to the host of amazing discoveries it is inspiringfrom the development of a stunning new breed of quantum computers, to methods for writing supersecure codes, to revealing fascinating insights into the elaborate computer-like workings of the cell and resolving long-standing mysteries about the inner workings of black holes and how the universe evolved. The revolutionary insight central to all of this new science is that the most fundamental constituents of matter are not atoms, or even the subatomic particles, but "bits," the fundamental units of information. As Siegfried writes: "Scientists are exploring a new path toward understanding life, physics, and existence. The path leads through all of nature, from the interior of cells to inside black holes. Always the signs are the same: the world is made of information." Siegfried has interviewed the leading researchers, and he provides wonderfully lucid and entertaining explanations of the remarkable range of work they are doing. We are introduced to the latest theories in quantum physics and how they are being applied by quantum cryptographers to create secret codes that are absolutely unbreakable. We learn how the mind-boggling physics of "reversible logic" can recapture lost information. We are introduced to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann and his provocative new idea of a "schema" to encode the way that nature works. We meet maverick mathematician Leonard Adleman and learn about his ingenious method of harnessing the information power of the genetic code to create DNA computers. Entering the mind-bending domain of forefront research in cosmology, we are introduced to physicist John Wheeler, the namer of black holes, and his ideas about how black holes "swallow" information. We also learn about the seemingly bizarre "many worlds" theory that our universe is only one of an infinite number of universes, and we are introduced to the controversy over M Theory, which some scientists argue is the long-sought "Theory of Everything." The Bit and the Pendulum offers an engaging, fast-paced introduction to a fundamentally new way of seeing the world and an amazing glimpse into many of the hottest areas of research in science today.

Reviews

An enjoyably quick-paced interdisciplinary survey of the outer limits of scientific thought. Much as the machines of earlier eras drove the growth of cosmological theoryNewton conceived of the universe as a cosmic clock, and the steam engine inspired the science of thermodynamicsthe computer has, in the information age, developed into a powerful metaphor for understanding the universe. In a straightforward, often whimsical exposition of new revelations in computer science, theoretical physics, molecular biology, and the developing science of consciousness, Dallas Morning News science editor Siegfried reaches a startling conclusion: All natural phenomena, from organisms that develop according to intricately programmed DNA coding down to the radically small ``superstrings'' that physicists believe may be the building blocks of matter, consist of information processing, even if the ``information'' is physical rather than digital. Many computer functions, Siegfried asserts, including the binary coding with which computers calculate and the manner in which computers produce outputs from inputs according to pre-programmed mathematical rules, find analogues in nature. Siegfried hurtles from cell analysis to Boolean logic to quantum mechanics to the theory of black holes to make his point. Indeed, he contends, the computer has become such a powerful symbol for the universe that scientists are in danger of mistaking the metaphor for nature itself: Like the condemned man in the Poe story evoked by the title, scientists are in the dark, constantly groping for models with which to understand their mysterious environment. The computer has become as all-encompassing a model as Newtons clock, Siegfried concludes, but it may be no better able to explain everything in nature. A stimulating and eminently accessible introduction to the frontiers of scientific theory. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Siegfried, the science editor of the Dallas Morning News, presents the radical idea that information is not merely something abstract and intangible but that it is physical. He asserts that bits and bytes of information are the foundation of reality; in other words, "it from bit." He argues that everything in the universe, from the biology of living things to the cosmology of a black hole, is constructed of nothing more substantial than bits of information. Whether one agrees with this far-out concept or not, Siegfried weaves a provocative and convincing argument, supported by a plethora of scientific and mathematical research cited in numerous sources recommended for further reading. This is the new physics of information, and Siegfried says it is leading to major breakthroughs in a vast range of science such as teleportation and the development of "quantum computers" designed to decode the mysteries of DNA and human consciousness. Recommended for an informed audience.
-Joe J. Accardi, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471321745
• ISBN 13: 9780471321743
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288