Related papers: Reconstructing the Universe in a computer: physica…
Recent advances in our understanding of the Universe have revolutionized our view of its structure, composition and evolution. However, these new ideas have not necessarily been used to improve the teaching of introductory astronomy…
Astronomy is entering a new era as multiple, large area, digital sky surveys are in production. The resulting datasets are truly remarkable in their own right; however, a revolutionary step arises in the aggregation of complimentary…
Revolutionary advances in both theory and technology have launched cosmology into its most exciting period of discovery yet. Unanticipated components of the universe have been identified, promising ideas for understanding the basic features…
I present a selection of conceptual and mathematical problems in the foundations of modern physics as they derive from the title question. Contribution to a panel session, "Springer Forum: Quantum Structures -- Physical, Mathematical and…
This paper critically re-examines "Digital Nature," a concept that has proliferated across various domains over the last ten years. By "Digital Nature," we refer to an evolving view of nature as a dynamic process of circulating computation…
Surveys of the local and distant Universe are the means to test and improve our models of galaxy formation. Substantial successes in the models are evident, while there is also considerable recent progress in identifying what remains to be…
Augmented Reality consists of merging live images with virtual layers of information. The rapid growth in the popularity of smartphones and tablets over recent years has provided a large base of potential users of Augmented Reality…
We are on the threshold of a significant change in the way we view digital life, which will have a major effect on the physical world. Computers have increasingly emulated deceased human beings through growing awareness in the fields of…
This is the written version of the opening talk at the symposium "Expectations of a Final Theory," at Trinity College, Cambridge, on September 2, 2005. It is to be published in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. B. Carr (Cambridge University…
This paper explores the idea that the universe is a virtual reality created by information processing, and relates this strange idea to the findings of modern physics about the physical world. The virtual reality concept is familiar to us…
Cyberspace is being more and more tightly linked to the physical space and socioeconomic space to emerge a cyber-physical-socioeconomic space, where humans, machines and physical objects in the natural environment interact with each other,…
We discuss whether science is in the process of being transformed from a quest for causality to a quest for correlation in light of the recent development in artificial intelligence. We observe that while a blind trust in the most seductive…
Nowadays, computer simulations have reached amazing graphic results, providing awesome visual descriptions explaining the evolution of very complex physics phenomena, implementing the laws of Nature. Sometimes, without a scientific guide,…
Astronomical observations are about to deliver the very first telescopic image of the massive black hole lurking at the Galactic Center. The mass of data collected in one night by the Event Horizon Telescope network, exceeding everything…
In the century since Einstein's anno mirabilis of 1905, our concept of the Universe has expanded from Kapteyn's flattened disk of stars only 10 kpc across to an observed horizon about 30 Gpc across that is only a tiny fraction of an…
Our study's concern is about how to enlarge the scope of the virtual museum concept from the mediation activities as they are carried out in today's digital planetariums to training activities dedicated to the public. We assume that these…
Daring predictions of the proximate future can establish shared discursive frameworks, mobilize capital, and steer complex processes. Among the prophetic visions that encouraged and accompanied the development of new communication…
In the past decade, observational cosmology has had one of the most exciting periods in the past century. The precision with which we have been able to measure cosmological parameters has increased tremendously, while at the same time, we…
I am most honoured to have the privilege to present the Foreword to this fascinating and wonderfully varied collection of contributions, concerning the nature of computation and of its deep connection with the operation of those basic laws,…
I review the present status of the mapping of the large-scale structure of the Universe through wide-angle redshift surveys. In the first part of the paper, I discuss the current state of the art, describing in some detail the recently…