“In creating the world, God used arithmetic, geometry,
and likewise astronomy.” – Nicholas of Cusa (click here for
article)
From this perspective, computation seems almost a theological process.
It takes as its fodder the primeval choice between yes or no, the fundamental
state of 1 or 0. After stripping away all externalities, all material embellishments,
what remains is the purest state of existence: here/not here. Am/not am.
In the Old Testament, when Moses asks the Creator, “Who are you?” the
being says, in effect, “Am.” One bit. One almighty bit. Yes.
One. Exist. It is the simplest statement possible.
All creation, from this perch, is made from this irreducible
foundation. Every mountain, every star, the smallest salamander or woodland
tick, each thought in our mind, each flight of a ball is but a web of elemental
yes/nos woven together. If the theory of digital physics holds up, movement
(f = ma), energy (E = mc²), gravity, dark matter, and antimatter can all
be explained by elaborate programs of 1/0 decisions. Bits can be seen as
a digital version of the “atoms” of classical Greece: the tiniest
constituent of existence. But these new digital atoms are the basis not
only of matter, as the Greeks thought, but of energy, motion, mind, and
life.
God Is the Machine,,IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS 0. AND THEN THERE WAS 1. A MIND-BENDING MEDITATION ON THE TRANSCENDENT POWER OF DIGITAL COMPUTATION.,,By Kevin Kelly (click for complete article)
