Cosmic computer?

[Fred56]

I thought about posting this in the jokes thread first, honest.

 

If the universe is really a big computer, and all the information is, like, “everything” -all events, every atom and every photon and every oscillation- does God keep a backup?

[lee]

no need. just format and install some software

[Martin]

no need. just format and install some software

 

format = spacetime?

 

software = laws of physics?

 

=======

the poet Borges

spoke of the universe as a

crystalline memory

 

there is a sonnet about this called

"One thing does not exist, oblivion..."

 

I will try to find it

 

I like the image of the 4D spacetime as a crystal containing all events

 

===================

I found part of it. here it is. I must go out now but will check back later

 

 

http://www.letralia.com/58/en02-058.htm

 

Everness

 

One thing does not exist: Oblivion.

God saves the metal and he saves the dross,

And his prophetic memory guards from loss

The moons to come, and those of evenings gone.

Everything is: the shadows in the glass.

Which, in between the day's two twilights, you

Have scattered by the thousands, or shall strew

Henceforward in the mirrors that you pass.

And everything is part of that diverse

Crystalline memory, the universe:

...

 

Everness

 

Sólo una cosa no hay. Es el olvido.

Dios, que salva el metal, salva la escoria

Y cifra en Su profética memoria

Las lunas que serán y las que han sido.

Ya todo está. Los miles de reflejos

Que entre los dos crepúsculos del día

Tu rostro fue dejando en los espejos

Y los que irá dejando todavía.

Y todo es una parte del diverso

Cristal de esa memoria, el universo;

...

[lucaspa]

I thought about posting this in the jokes thread first, honest.

 

If the universe is really a big computer, and all the information is, like, “everything” -all events, every atom and every photon and every oscillation- does God keep a backup?

 

Maybe that is what the proposed "bubble" universes and multiverses are for:-) Shoot, maybe our universe is one of the backups!

[lee]

Martin, thanks! Interesting verses.

[Fred56]

There seems to be a problem with my question: Where can a backup of "infinity" be kept (unless God can access some “archive library” that the universe, and we can't)? Why (if he does this) does God keep a backup? Is it in case there is a need for some of the information to be reloaded? Or in case there is a need to reboot the universe...?

 

Infinity (being hard to “find” or define in a logically consistent way) reminds me of the Baker in a certain poem:

 

There was one who was famed for the number of things

He forgot when he entered the ship:

His umbrella, his watch, all his jewels and rings,

And the clothes he had bought for the trip.

He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packed,

With his name painted clearly on each:

But, since he omitted to mention the fact,

They were all left behind on the beach.

The loss of his clothes hardly mattered, because

He had seven coats on when he came,

With three pairs of boots--but the worst of it was,

He had wholly forgotten his name.

He would answer to "Hi!" or to any loud cry,

Such as "Fry me!" or "Fritter my wig!"

To "What-you-may-call-um!" or "What-was-his-name!"

But especially "Thing-um-a-jig!"

While, for those who preferred a more forcible word,

He had different names from these:

His intimate friends called him "Candle-ends,"

And his enemies "Toasted-cheese." - Lewis Carrol

 

-Note the appearance in this extract of a certain number (which might be familiar to Hitchhiker's Guide followers)

[Edtharan]

does God keep a backup?

But what is the OS? Windows, Linux or Mac?