Maybe “review” is overly generous, and it’s not like anyone is on the edge of their seat for my opinion of a 13-year-old book; still, I wanted to bring up a few ideas from the book for discussion. Programming the Universe is Seth Lloyd’s introduction to quantum computing. After a primer on information theory–one of the mathematical foundations of computing–and the inner working of classical computers (like the one I’m typing on and the one you’re reading on), Lloyd explores two main topics. The first is how quantum computers differ from classical computers. The second describes the universe as a quantum computer and all physical interactions as computation. Although I may not be exactly representative of a layperson, at least on the computing side, I found the book accessible and Lloyd’s approach to framing the topics insightful. I definitely learned some new things about quantum computing, and even the more familiar topics still came with some fresh perspective.
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