>
> Marchal <marchal.domain.name.hidden> writes:
> >
> > I have still a question for Russell, what is the meaning of
> > giving a "physical existence" to a mathematical structure ? This is
> > not at all a clear statement for me.
> >
>
> There is a tendency for sciences to speak in the metaphors of the age in
> which they arise. Thus economics is written in the language of steam
> engines: pressures, velocities, inflation, volumes.
>
> In a few years time I think people will look back and laugh at this period
> when the cosmos was talked about in the language of desktop computing.
>
> -dlj.
>
>
>
>
We're not using the language of desktop computing - we're using the
language of Turing Machines, which substantially predates electronic
computers. However, the key to all of this is that information is
important to understanding how the anthropic principle works. That
Turing computability is built into our information theory is perhaps
a naive restriction, but at present that's the only information theory
we have. I remain agnostic about whether more sophisticated
information theories are possible.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Russell Standish Director
High Performance Computing Support Unit,
University of NSW Phone 9385 6967
Sydney 2052 Fax 9385 6965
Australia R.Standish.domain.name.hidden
Room 2075, Red Centre
http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks
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Received on Fri Nov 12 1999 - 16:40:04 PST