November 19, 2003

ouch.

Erik Benson made my head hurt this morning.

Okay, if it’s digital, then we’re back in the “the universe is a big computer” debate. Then, I want to know how fast this computer has to be. What are the limits to its calculation power? It probably has to hold the entire state of the universe in memory at all times (it even has to hold time in memory), in order to calculate the movement of galaxies and solar systems. Is the speed of light hitting up against some calculation boundary? Is that why we haven’t discovered anything that can go faster than 299,792,458 meters per second?

Erik, please. Stop it. Get back to your novel, wouldja?