The powers of two : the information universe - information as the building block of everything

FOREWORD......Page 10 CONTENTS......Page 13 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION......Page 17 JOYRIDING THE UNIVERSE......Page 18 THE INFORMATION UNIVERSE......Page 20 WHAT IS INFORMATION?......Page 23 CHAPTER 2 THE BEGINNING......Page 25 Ti — Spacetime foam......Page 26 MULTIVERSE Anthropic principle......Page 29 Big Bang......Page 30 WHAT IS A BIT?......Page 33 Multicellular Life In vivo......Page 34 THE GAME OF LIFE In vitro......Page 37 CHAPTER 3 PEOPLE'S INFORMATION UNIVERSE......Page 39 ASCII in vitro......Page 40 Machu Picchu......Page 42 First Computers......Page 44 COVID-19......Page 46 STAR PEACE MACHU PICCHU AT THE CANARIAS......Page 49 PRE-INTERNET FACTS AND FAKES......Page 51 Hard disk......Page 52 THE TELEPHONE IN VIVO – IN VITRO......Page 55 DNA......Page 56 FROM 1D DNA TO 3D PROTEINS......Page 59 WHERE DOES BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION COME FROM?......Page 61 DVD......Page 62 Biobanking for human health......Page 64 Human Brain......Page 66 NEUROMORPHIC COMPUTING......Page 69 DARK ENERGY — DARK MATTER......Page 71 Gaia: a billion stars......Page 72 CT Scan......Page 74 Terabyte......Page 76 PARANAL OBSERVATORY......Page 79 GRAVITATIONAL LENSING......Page 81 FROM TERABYTES TO TWO NUMBERS......Page 83 THE EUCLID SATELLITE......Page 85 Big Data......Page 86 Watching a Black Hole IN VITRO......Page 88 WATCHING A BLACK HOLE......Page 91 DARK MATTER MAPS......Page 93 Hundreds of petabytes......Page 94 FUTURE — MORE THAN HUNDREDS OF PETABYTES STAGE IV COSMOLOGY......Page 97 THE UNIVERSE AS A SPREADSHEET DOWNLOADING THE UNIVERSE......Page 99 METADATA DATA-CENTRIC APPROACH......Page 101 THE INFORMATION UNIVERSE IN VIVO – IN VITRO......Page 103 IN VIVO – IN VITRO STORY OF THE LOST BOY......Page 105 VIRTUAL OBSERVATORY — ALADIN......Page 107 VIRTUAL OBSERVATORY IVOA......Page 109 Qubits......Page 110 QUANTUM COMPUTERS GET REAL......Page 113 ENTANGLEMENT......Page 115 Exabyte — SKA......Page 116 Cryptography......Page 118 NATURE PROCESSES INFORMATION......Page 121 CHAPTER 4 DEEP SPACE......Page 123 The Desert 66-400 BITS......Page 124 Black Hole......Page 126 UNRAVELING BLACK HOLES WITH GRAVITATIONAL WAVES......Page 129 LINKS THE UNIVERSE AS A SPREADSHEET......Page 131 The CMB......Page 132 Cosmic event horizon......Page 134 EMERGENT GRAVITY......Page 137 CHAPTER 5 IT FROM BIT......Page 139 INFORMATION DENSITY......Page 141 ENTROPY......Page 143 SCIENCE FROM FISHER INFORMATION......Page 145 MULTIVERSE FROM FISHER INFORMATION......Page 147 ON THE ORIGIN OF PHYSICAL INFORMATION......Page 149 BLACK-BODY RADIATION......Page 151 COSMIC INFORMATION COSMOGENESIS AND DARK ENERGY......Page 153 CosmIn and the Cosmological constant......Page 155 SYSTEM OF SCIENCE......Page 157 THE EAR COPYING INFORMATION......Page 159 VISUALIZATION FROM IN VIVO TO CONSCIOUSNESS......Page 161 CONSCIOUSNESS......Page 163 INTELLIGENCE......Page 165 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE......Page 167 SOMNIUM LIVE......Page 169 IT FROM BIT FROM 4PI FROM TI 4PI IN THE SKY......Page 171 THE INFORMATION UNIVERSE......Page 173 FACTS AND FAKES......Page 175 LIFE......Page 177 APPENDIX......Page 179 POWERS OF TWO IN A TABLE......Page 180 REFERENCES......Page 186 ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 188 Is everything Information? This is a tantalizing question which emerges in modern physics, life sciences, astronomy and in today’s information and technology-driven society. In Powers of Two expert authors undertake a unique expedition - in words and images - throughout the world (and scales) of information. The story resembles, in a way, the classic Powers of Ten journeys through space: from us to the macro and the micro worlds . However, by following Powers of Two through the world of information, a completely different and timely paradigm unfolds. Every power of two, 1, 2, 4, 8.... tells us a different story: starting from the creation of the very first bit at the Big Bang and the evolution of life, through 50 years of computational science, and finally into deep space, describing the information in black holes and even in the entire universe and beyond.... All this to address one question: Is our universe made of information? In this book, we experience the Information Universe in nature and in our society and how information lies at the very foundation of our understanding of the Universe. From the Foreword by Robbert Dijkgraaf: This book is in many ways a vastly extended version of Shannon’s one-page blueprint. It carries us all the way to the total information content of the Universe. And it bears testimony of how widespread the use of data has become in all aspects of life. Information is the connective tissue of the modern sciences. [...] Undoubtedly, future generations will look back at this time, so much enthralled by Big Data and quantum computers, as beholden to the information metaphor. But that is exactly the value of this book. With its crisp descriptions and evocative illustrations, it brings the reader into the here and now, at the very frontier of scientific research, including the excitement and promise of all the outstanding questions and future discoveries. Message for the e-reader of the book Powers of Two The book has been designed to be read in two-page spreads in full screen mode. For optimal reader experience in a downloaded .pdf file we strongly recommend you use the following settings in Adobe Acrobat Reader: - Taskbar: View > Page Display > two page view - Taskbar: View > Page Display > Show Cover Page in Two Page View - Taskbar: ^ Preferences > Full Screen > deselect " Fill screen with one page at a time" - Taskbar: View > Full screen mode or ctrl L (cmd L on a Mac) ***** Note: for reading the previews on Spinger link (and on-line reading in a browser), the full screen two-page view only works with these browsers: Firefox - Taskbar: on top of the text, at the uppermost right you will see then >> (which is a drop-down menu) >> even double pages - Fullscreen: F11 or Control Cmd F with Mac Edge - Taskbar middle: Two-page view and select show cover page separately Is everything Information? This is a tantalizing question which emerges in modern physics, life sciences, astronomy and in today’s information and technology-driven society. In Powers of Two expert authors undertake a unique expedition - in words and images - throughout the world (and scales) of information. The story resembles, in a way, the classic Powers of Ten journeys through space: from us to the macro and the micro worlds . However, by following Powers of Two through the world of information, a completely different and timely paradigm unfolds. Every power of two, 1, 2, 4, 8.... tells us a different story: starting from the creation of the very first bit at the Big Bang and the evolution of life, through 50 years of computational science, and finally into deep space, describing the information in black holes and even in the entire universe and beyond.... All this to address one question: Is our universe made of information? In this book, we experience the Information Universe in nature and in our society and how information lies at the very foundation of our understanding of the Universe. From the Foreword by Robbert Dijkgraaf: This book is in many ways a vastly extended version of Shannon’s one-page blueprint. It carries us all the way to the total information content of the Universe. And it bears testimony of how widespread the use of data has become in all aspects of life. Information is the connective tissue of the modern sciences. [...] Undoubtedly, future generations will look back at this time, so much enthralled by Big Data and quantum computers, as beholden to the information metaphor. But that is exactly the value of this book. With its crisp descriptions and evocative illustrations, it brings the reader into the here and now, at the very frontier of scientific research, including the excitement and promise of all the outstanding questions and future discoveries. Message for the e-reader of the book Powers of Two The book has been designed to be read in two-page spreads in full screen mode. For optimal reader experience in a downloaded .pdf file we strongly recommend you use the following settings in Adobe Acrobat Reader : - Taskbar: View > Page Display > two page view - Taskbar: View > Page Display > Show Cover Page in Two Page View - Taskbar: ^ Preferences > Full Screen > deselect " Fill screen with one page at a time" - Taskbar: View > Full screen mode or ctrl L (cmd L on a Mac) \*\*\*\*\* Note: for reading the previews on Spinger link (and on-line reading in a browser), the full screen two-page view only works with these browsers: Firefox - Taskbar: on top of the text, at the uppermost right you will see then >> (which is a drop-down menu) >>__even double pages - Fullscreen: F11 or Control+Cmd+F with Mac Edge - Taskbar middle: Two-page view and select show cover page separately__ Is everything Information? This is a tantalizing question which emerges in modern physics, life sciences, astronomy and in today's information and technology-driven society. In Powers of Two expert authors undertake a unique expedition - in words and images - throughout the world (and scales) of information. The story resembles, in a way, the classic "Powers of Ten" journeys through space: from us to the macro and the micro worlds. However, by following Powers of Two through the world of information, a completely different and timely paradigm unfolds: The Information Universe in nature and in our society. In this book, we experience how information lies at the very foundation of our understanding of the Universe.