Synopses & Reviews
"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.
Review
* ""Light stopped."" So read a number of headlines over recent news articles, about scientists bringing light to a full stop in a laboratory. The more careful writers explained that actually the experiments consisted of capturing all the information about some light rays in a soup of atoms and laser beams; this information could be used to reassemble the rays later and send them on their way.
""The Bit and the Pendulum"" explores the possibility that everything, heaven and earth and all that is in them, is, like that light, but a manifestation of information. Physical scientists are likely to meet this idea with a dismissive shrug; they are quite happy with energy as the foundation of everything. On the other hand, information scientists are likely to find the idea quite natural and exciting. Tom Siegfried, the science editor of The Dallas Morning News, invites the general reader to come to a personal conclusion. Siegfried posits that science, particularly physics, and by extension the rational view of the universe, have been driven by a succession of metaphorical worldviews - ""superparadigms."" In turn, these are motivated by the dominant machines of the era. The first: The universe as clockwork (the pendulum of the title) is manifested in Newtonian mechanics. Here force is a key concept, and energy, kinetic and potential, first appears as a conserved quantity. The second, some centuries later: The universe as a large heat engine Is manifested in the theory of thermodynamics, motivated by the steam engine. Energy, the key concept, is conserved, but entropy, or useless heat energy, increases, so the universe is running down. The third, motivated by the computer, the dominant machine of today, sees the universe as a large information processor. Entropy is information.
Information has a precise definition as the state of a system. The simplest bit of information is an either-or state, a zero or one, up or down, yes or no, or a protein either active or inactive (this last connects biology and information). Any system - an atom, a human, the universe - can be completely described by the answers to a few tens of yes-no questions (20 questions, anyone?); that is, a few tens of bits. An information processor, a computer, is a system that transforms its state, according to rules, into a new state. Do not underestimate the import of all this. The thesis developed in the book is that information is not a formal way of analyzing systems and their behavior. ""Information is real. Information is physical,"" Siegfried writes. And later: ""Information is more than a metaphor -it is a new reality."" And the progression of events through time is computation, so the universe is essentially a huge. If mysterious, computer.
To illustrate, Siegfried begins with the idea of teleportation: ""Beam me up, Scotty."" If teleportation really exists - and Siegfried shows it does in some sense - it would consist of transporting not matter but the complete information about the structure of an object, every molecule of Captain Kirk, in such a way that the information in the previous location is destroyed. In this view of reality, Siegfried says, ""information is the ultimate 'substance' from which all things are made""; witness the light of the recent headlines.
This concept, at most a few decades old in this form, is controversial. Learned opinions vary from complete acceptance to laughing rejection. This book is personal journalism. The author has met with many of the principal movers and shakers. He lets them speak for themselves and recounts his own intellectual journey. He has attended the scientific meetings and read the scientific papers. His primary mentors seem to have been the physicist John Wheeler, a professor of his at the University of Texas, Austin, and the late Rolf Landauer of I.B.M., a primary figure in the physical theory of information (and a deep skeptic about some of the newer directions of exploration).
The book is not about
Review
"Light stopped." So read a number of headlines over recent news articles, about scientists bringing light to a full stop in a laboratory. The more careful writers explained that actually the experiments consisted of capturing all the information about some light rays in a soup of atoms and laser beams; this information could be used to reassemble the rays later and send them on their way.
"The Bit and the Pendulum" explores the possibility that everything, heaven and earth and all that is in them, is, like that light, but a manifestation of information. Physical scientists are likely to meet this idea with a dismissive shrug; they are quite happy with energy as the foundation of everything. On the other hand, information scientists are likely to find the idea quite natural and exciting. Tom Siegfried, the science editor of The Dallas Morning News, invites the general reader to come to a personal conclusion. Siegfried posits that science, particularly physics, and by extension the rational view of the universe, have been driven by a succession of metaphorical worldviews - "superparadigms." In turn, these are motivated by the dominant machines of the era. The first: The universe as clockwork (the pendulum of the title) is manifested in Newtonian mechanics. Here force is a key concept, and energy, kinetic and potential, first appears as a conserved quantity. The second, some centuries later: The universe as a large heat engine Is manifested in the theory of thermodynamics, motivated by the steam engine. Energy, the key concept, is conserved, but entropy, or useless heat energy, increases, so the universe is running down. The third, motivated by the computer, the dominant machine of today, sees the universe as a large information processor. Entropy is information.
Information has a precise definition as the state of a system. The simplest bit of information is an either-or state, a zero or one, up or down, yes or no, or a protein either active or inactive (this last connects biology and information). Any system - an atom, a human, the universe - can be completely described by the answers to a few tens of yes-no questions (20 questions, anyone?); that is, a few tens of bits. An information processor, a computer, is a system that transforms its state, according to rules, into a new state. Do not underestimate the import of all this. The thesis developed in the book is that information is not a formal way of analyzing systems and their behavior. "Information is real. Information is physical," Siegfried writes. And later: "Information is more than a metaphor -it is a new reality." And the progression of events through time is computation, so the universe is essentially a huge. If mysterious, computer.
To illustrate, Siegfried begins with the idea of teleportation: "Beam me up, Scotty." If teleportation really exists - and Siegfried shows it does in some sense - it would consist of transporting not matter but the complete information about the structure of an object, every molecule of Captain Kirk, in such a way that the information in the previous location is destroyed. In this view of reality, Siegfried says, "information is the ultimate 'substance' from which all things are made"; witness the light of the recent headlines.
This concept, at most a few decades old in this form, is controversial. Learned opinions vary from complete acceptance to laughing rejection. This book is personal journalism. The author has met with many of the principal movers and shakers. He lets them speak for themselves and recounts his own intellectual journey. He has attended the scientific meetings and read the scientific papers. His primary mentors seem to have been the physicist John Wheeler, a professor of his at the University of Texas, Austin, and the late Rolf Landauer of I.B.M., a primary figure in the physical theory of information (and a deep skeptic about some of the newer directions of exploration).
The book is not about people, however, but about ideas. Once one grants the basic point, the subject areas on which it can be brought to bear are manifold, and Siegfried delves into as many as he can. A superficial whirlwind overview, for purposes of illustrating the range of topics: He begins with quantum computers, which hold the promise, or chimera, of mysteriously enormous increases in computational power, but at the very least the idea forces a careful re-examination of what information is at the quantum level. He moves on to consider biology as a manifestation of information and computation, first at the cellular and subcellular level, and on to the human brain, thought and consciousness. This leads him to consider the role of observers in the universe, and anthropomorphic principles. In the universe of information, an observer - that puzzling interloper in quantum mechanics who affects the state or position of particles simply by observing - is reincarnated as an IGUS (information gathering and using system) that requires a re-examination of what information is in terms of complexity theory, the balancing of regularity and randomness. Then Siegfried takes a dive into black holes, which, in the context of the book, should be thought of as engorgers of information; he then goes on to string theory and beyond. A mighty sweep, but this book will reward a reader who is tantalized by these subjects.
This is not a linear book. If readers come away feeling they understand the full tale, they have not been reading carefully. There are loose ends, probably false ends. There are some meanderings. But that is the state of the subject. This is journalism as evolving history. The book conveys some of the excitement of being in on science in the making, just perhaps a superparadigm shift. As one researcher states about one subject, quantum Information theory. "Five years ago there wasn't such a thing. Now there is, sort of." As Siegfried unfolds his story, it is clear he has himself chewed on the topic and its implications over many years, and has come incrementally to his understanding. He takes the reader with him. There is a lot of information; to get at it, large chunks may require more than one reading. The author includes endnotes and references for further reading; if the book has done its job really well, the reader will follow those leads.
--By James Alexander, The NY Times Book Review
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.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
"An eager, ambitious book. A stimulating, accessible introduction to scientific theory."--Dallas Morning News "An enjoyably quick-paced interdisciplinary survey of the outer limits of scientific thought."--Kirkus Reviews
"Siegfried weaves a provocative and convincing argument. . . . Recommended for an informed audience."--Library Journal "An excellent introduction to the myriad small worlds that can be teased out of our big one."--Publishers Weekly
"A volume of remarkable sweep."--Booklist
Now in paperback, The Bit and the Pendulum explores the radical idea at the center of the new physics of information: everything in the universe, from the molecules in our bodies to the heart of a black hole, is made up of bits of information.Award-winning author Tom Siegfried interviews top scientists-all using "bits" to solve the seemingly unsolvable-and provides a highly accessible introduction to a fundamentally new way of seeing the world. 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.
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 the Author
TOM SIEGFRIED is Science Editor of the Dallas Morning News. He is the recipient of the 1997 American Psychiatric Association's Robert T. Morse Writer's Award.
Table of Contents
Beam Up the Goulash.
Machines and Metaphors.
Information Is Physical.
The Quantum and the Computer.
The Computational Cell.
The Computational Brain.
Consciousness and Complexity.
IGUSes.
Quantum Reality.
From Black Holes to Supermatter.
The Magical Mystery Theory.
The Bit and the Pendulum.
Notes.
Glossary.
Further Reading.
Index.