5 ms·

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing, OP! Having recently gone down a similar rabbit hole [1], having references and starting points is incredibly useful for furt

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing, OP! Having recently gone down a similar rabbit hole [1], having references and starting points is incredibly useful for further exploration, as this stuff is very hard to search for. There does seem to be a direct computational link between information and the universe - and the way we’re using this link now , with classical computers, is highly abstracted and inefficient (the article also compares current energy cost of computing vs the much much lower theoretical limit). Quantum computers come closer to the nature of that link, but still require many abstractions. I wonder if it will be possible to eventually compute without abstractions, directly on the substrate of the universe. Though that might be equivalent to real magic ;) 1. https://juretriglav.si/computing-with-nature/ https://juretriglav.si/computing-with-nature/

hos234 7y ago
I don't think you need to bring quantum computing into the picture. For example "naturally" 3D printing a Mango takes a few years. Just drop a seed in the right place on earth and wait. Isn't that computing on the substrate of the universe? Are you asking if nature can be coaxed into doing it in a few seconds or a day? Or maybe you are not bothered about time and want to drop in that seed and grow a chair? The answer is probably yes to both. It will just take some time to get there. I don't think quantum computing will be required but who knows...
- juretriglav 7y ago
  Yeah, dropping a seed in and growing a chair very quickly sounds like it is in the same ballpark, or at least further along the spectrum of efficient computation. That seed (program) would very tricky to produce, though. Contrary to the current practice of writing programs relatively easily, but the machines to run them are incredibly complex, both to run and to manufacture. With the seed, though, the machine would be nature, 1=1. I agree that there is no need to bring quantum computing into the discussions, but it is higher on the efficient computing scale. It also requires a lot of effort to come up with programs that make sense, and they use more of natural phenomena (superposition, entanglement, etc) compared to classical computers. It’s something to look at for inspiration, at least?
  - hos234 7y ago
    Definitely. You might like - https://www.edge.org/conversation/seth_lloyd-seth-lloyd%E2%80%94life-what-a-concept https://www.edge.org/conversation/seth_lloyd-seth-lloyd%E2%8...
- mcbits 7y ago
  > Or maybe you are not bothered about time and want to drop in that seed and grow a chair? If you don't mind giving the tree a little guidance as it grows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping

hos234 7y ago

I don't think you need to bring quantum computing into the picture. For example "naturally" 3D printing a Mango takes a few years. Just drop a seed in the right place on earth and wait. Isn't that computing on the substrate of the universe? Are you asking if nature can be coaxed into doing it in a few seconds or a day? Or maybe you are not bothered about time and want to drop in that seed and grow a chair? The answer is probably yes to both. It will just take some time to get there. I don't think quantum computing will be required but who knows...

juretriglav 7y ago
Yeah, dropping a seed in and growing a chair very quickly sounds like it is in the same ballpark, or at least further along the spectrum of efficient computation. That seed (program) would very tricky to produce, though. Contrary to the current practice of writing programs relatively easily, but the machines to run them are incredibly complex, both to run and to manufacture. With the seed, though, the machine would be nature, 1=1. I agree that there is no need to bring quantum computing into the discussions, but it is higher on the efficient computing scale. It also requires a lot of effort to come up with programs that make sense, and they use more of natural phenomena (superposition, entanglement, etc) compared to classical computers. It’s something to look at for inspiration, at least?
- hos234 7y ago
  Definitely. You might like - https://www.edge.org/conversation/seth_lloyd-seth-lloyd%E2%80%94life-what-a-concept https://www.edge.org/conversation/seth_lloyd-seth-lloyd%E2%8...
mcbits 7y ago
> Or maybe you are not bothered about time and want to drop in that seed and grow a chair? If you don't mind giving the tree a little guidance as it grows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping