Product Description
Kurt Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems sent shivers through Vienna’s intellectual circles and directly challenged Ludwig Wittgenstein’s dominant philosophy. Alan Turing’s mathematical genius helped him break the Nazi Enigma Code during WWII. Though they never met, their lives strangely mirrored one another—both were brilliant, and both met with tragic ends. Here, a mysterious narrator intertwines these parallel lives into a double helix of genius and anguish, wonderfully capturing not only two radiant, fragile minds but also the zeitgeist of the era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Amazingly Brilliant
The text is amazingly brilliant. Very well written and glued & will surely expand your vocabulary. Although a novel, it is still (mostly) based on solid and true facts. Only where necessary were the facts altered or modified for the sake of cohesion.
Alternating between Godel & Turing, the reader can get a bit confused for a while but will soon get his grips on the text , specially that the last part is dominated by the details of Turing's war-time life until his self-prepared cold death.
A great book highly suggested to everyone who has no or very little idea of these two brilliant mathematicians [& philosophers]. It can serve as a first book or introduction to their lives and work in a very interesting, entertaining & enlightening way.

Waste of time
The author's ego gets in the way of the narrative. Read Godel Escher Bach instead,

A Madman Dreams of Turin Machines
Book arrived fast in excellent condition. Also sent a copy to a friend. Very satisfied.

A Serious Look at Uncertainty

As I read it, Janna Levin's novel is a creative exploration of epistemology, the problem of knowing. It briefly but vividly sketches the lives of two men, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing, and uses their assumptions about reality and the nature of truth to dramatize that certainty about most aspects of existence, and especially about the larger questions of value and meaning, is unattainable. The novel confronts serious questions: Is our existence meaningful or meaningless? What role, if any, should faith and mysticism play in our lives? How reliable is the knowledge gained by a priori reasoning? By inductive empiricism? What constitutes reliable knowledge and how do we go about obtaining it?

The first chapter introduces members of the Vienna Circle who in the early twentieth century approach the problem of knowing with the hyper-scientific standards of Logical Positivism. Disciples of Wittgenstein, they wish to discard all unexamined assumptions and build a world-view that is incontestable. The only claims of truth they consider fully reliable are claims founded on empirical observations and the unassailable logic of mathematics. They meet to "distinguish science from superstition. At stake is Everything. Reality. Meaning. Their lives. . . . They hate mysticism and metaphysics, religion and faith. They loathe them. They want to separate out truth" (8-9). They engage in "ripping down notions like `The Absolute,' `Spirit,' and `God' and watched them vaporize before hitting the ground. Faith, Mysticism - it's not that these ideas are false. They are meaningless" (59). But Kurt Gödel, a member of the Circle, shatters their illusions of certainty by demonstrating that some truths are beyond mathematics. Previous philosophers had believed this was true, but their ideas were only beliefs. "Gödel didn't believe that truth would elude us. He proved that it would" with a theorem that met the epistemological standards of the Vienna Circle, his theorem being as tangible as "a rock he had dug up from the ground. He could pass it around the table and it would be as real as the rock." Ironically, what the Positivists considered to be one of the most powerful means of establishing "truth" - the rational system of mathematics - is proven to be "not a complete one" (10-11) and Logical Positivism finds itself undermined by its own principles.

Throughout the novel the problem of knowing is approached in a number of ways and with far more complexity than I can describe here. Gödel, for example, engages in a debate with Olga over the distinction between what is true and what is real, and he accepts the truth and reality of an abstract realm of numbers (84). But he is "completely convinced" of the clairvoyance of a Gypsy medium (62) in apparent violation of his own epistemological standards. And Moritz Schlick, the leader of the Vienna Circle and its link with Wittgenstein, can find no way to prove that his own sensory experience is valid (74), instantiating what philosophers for centuries have called the "problem of the external world." This problem of sensory reliability, particularly in the form of seeing, is raised and/or symbolized many times. Numerous other epistemological issues appear in the novel, each showing another facet of the problem of determining truth.

Over in England in the same time frame, Alan Turing gradually undergoes a conversion from religious faith to empirical skepticism and concludes, "We are biological machines. Nothing more. We have no souls, no spirit. But we are bound to mathematics and mathematics is flawless. This has to be true. Where is God in 1 + 1 = 2? There is no God" (107). Turing uses logic and mathematics to invent a computing machine and successfully break Nazi war codes, clearly not inconsequential feats. But Gödel's and Turing's stories illustrate not only that certainty about many religious and philosophical issues is unobtainable, but also that formidable powers of logic are insufficient in themselves as tools for living. Both men's lives end in a kind of tragic and pitiable madness.

The novel raises the question, "Are our lives meaningful or meaningless?" and uses historical data to conclude that no answer can be given with certainty. Religious faith as a means of knowing is implicitly if not explicitly rejected as unreliable. The narrator describes herself as "Craving an amulet, a jewel, a reason, a purpose, a truth" (220), but can find no reason to embrace any explanation of reality as a certainty. All explanations must be seen as corrigible and provisional. Certainty even about the material, historical world is no more accessible than certainty about a putative metaphysical realm. How does one determine where to begin a biography? Where does that person's story actually begin? Where does it end? Our lives are the result of and the cause of indeterminable numbers of chains of cause and effect; there are no clear lines of demarcation, no points that clearly identify where a story starts or finishes. The book opens with "There is no beginning. I've tried to invent one but it was a lie" (3). It closes with, "There is no ending. I tried to invent one but it was a lie" (220). These are not the words of an unreliable narrator. Quite the opposite. These are the words of a narrator completely committed to speaking truthfully and courageously admitting that, despite our craving for certainty, incontestable "truth" is a will-o'-the-wisp that still eludes us. This is a valuable reminder in an age of unprecendented dangers arising from political and religious absolutism.

Not easy writing fiction - -
I also wonder how A.A. Knopf could rationalize funding this book; do they do vanity books?
Admittedly fiction is usually about something, probably from the author's life, otherwise it would be pure abstraction like W. Burroughs (which is even harder to do).
But this book by a novice is borrrring.But, in the spirit of art criticism, keep writing.It's no sin to write a boring book.
I'm not a professional writer, but to offer constructive criticism, there are no juicy parts to this book; such as with Joan Clarke and Alan Turing.And the parts about Godel are not researched and detailed enough; where is a reference to Godel saving his library receipts?Fiction writers, among themselves, like to read lots of declarative details, like all about the clothes someone is wearing etc.
It would seem to me, the only people interested in this book, from the title, would be those knowing what Turing and Godel accomplished.Being in this category myself, I was sucked in thinking there would be something worthwhile. Art is supposed to offer some different or extended view or possiblity.This was more like a soap opera.
... Read more

Product Description
Programming Legend Charles Petzold unlocks the secrets of the extraordinary and prescient 1936 paper by Alan M. Turing

Mathematician Alan Turing invented an imaginary computer known as the Turing Machine; in an age before computers, he explored the concept of what it meant to be computable, creating the field of computability theory in the process, a foundation of present-day computer programming.

The book expands Turing’s original 36-page paper with additional background chapters and extensive annotations; the author elaborates on and clarifies many of Turing’s statements, making the original difficult-to-read document accessible to present day programmers, computer science majors, math geeks, and others.

Interwoven into the narrative are the highlights of Turing’s own life: his years at Cambridge and Princeton, his secret work in cryptanalysis during World War II, his involvement in seminal computer projects, his speculations about artificial intelligence, his arrest and prosecution for the crime of "gross indecency," and his early death by apparent suicide at the age of 41. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Rich and surprisingly accessible
Don't let the title fool you: This isn't simply Alan Turing's groundbreaking paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" with a handful of footnotes thrown in. While the paper is contained here in its entirety, there is, on average, about a paragraph of explanation for each line of Turing's prose. And before that, there is an extensive introduction to important concepts, starting with the distinctions between rational, irrational, algebraic, transcendental, and computable numbers--all explained in terms that any intelligent undergraduate should be able to understand. No mathematical background is assumed beyond algebra.

The Annotated Turing exceeds even the best undergraduate textbooks in explaining these concepts clearly yet concisely, and in doing so sets up the historical context that Turing worked in. When there is an interesting story to tell about Hilbert or Russell, he tells it. (Russell's life was, after all, sufficiently fascinating to be the subject of a recent comic book, Logicomix.) Those with a more extensive mathematical background will want to skim the early sections, but shouldn't skip them entirely.

What Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach did for Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem--a crucial discovery that was poorly understood outside of the domain of professional mathematicians--Petzold's book does for Turing's universal computer. If you have any interest whatsoever in the theory of computing, make this the first book you read.

A 10 year quest to understand Turing's paper ends here
It was about 10 years ago when I first found Turing's original paper on Internet and thought it wouldn't be so hard to read and understand it (after all its "mere" computer science). Since then I've tried to digest it quite a few times on and off and never actually succeeded. Infect most of the time I got stuck on few nitty-gritty and just couldn't move forward. I have even bought/borrowed almost all books on the subject that falls in to "popular science" types. Needless to say, like many such books in same category, they just never go in to details and are practically useless for all practical purposes :).

So imagine my surprise when I see a book with title "Annotated Turing" and by none other than Charles Petzold who I've known as author who normally writes programming books. That surprise was only a start. I was simply shocked when I opened the book. It was as-if someone read your dream and made it a reality with absolute precision with zero compromises. If there is one such book like this for all of the milestone scientific papers, there would be a revolution in learning.

Let me put out some points what makes this book so perfect. Not just wishy-washy "near perfect", I'm saying SO PERFECT.
*First, the book contains explanation of every single line in Turing's paper. Literally. The format of the book is a line quoted from Turing's paper in bold and a paragraph or so of explanation and discussions for that line. Author's claim is that you can actually cut out all those lines and stitch them to recreate the Turing's paper in its entirety complete with page numbers! Now that's what I call precision.
*The book also includes all encompassing big picture overview, historical situation, importance, consequences and so on - nicely preparing reader for the journey.
*The book is so readable that I usually forget I'm reading a very technical book that goes in to very core of computer science. It's like nicest computer science professor reads you the paper line by line and answers all your questions, even those completely stupid ones.
*As I'd doubted many times, there are lots of errors in Turning original paper. This book amazingly points them out and corrects even the minor misprints. I'm just surprised how author even know so much "insider" details about those trivial misprints and errors.
*Turing's paper is full of obscure strange symbols (have you seen old gothic German font?) that are common in scientific literature today. Author explains all these symbols, what they mean, where they came from, what are the subtle differences and so on. Just amazing.
*Turing's paper have lot of omissions for explanations and steps which he probably left out as "exercise for reader" to keep his paper short. Sometime you might get stuck in those exercises and if you are not in academia you probably have no external help. This book deals with all these omissions and expands so beautifully on them that I can't imagine if there any better way to describe them.
*Apart from omissions, there are lot of shortcuts that Turing employs with rather flitting explanations or sometime absolutely none. This book covers you 100% for these shortcuts.
*A big part of understanding Turing's paper is actually mentally running his machine's step by step for all the examples he puts out. This book actually does this step-by-step run explanation making it so easier to read and understand quickly.

Anyway, some of you might think why one should even bother about reading this ancient computer science paper in first place? Answer is huge changes in the way we have started viewing universe recently. While Seth Lloyd's book "Programming the Universe" does good job of explaining this thinking, the summary is that the universe can be seen as computing machine rather than particle and energies in the realms of physics. There was even a paper that proposed that even a simple system consisting of billiard balls interacting in space is Turing complete! That means by setting billiards balls in some initial points in space and velocity can computer anything that your laptop can compute in theory. To understand advances in this area you have to fully understand what is Turing's machine and what it means to be Turing complete and how one can prove that a certain system is computationally Turing complete. That's where the paper comes in. Text books just don't do justice.

Interesting...
I've just skimmed this book, so far, and will read it closely soon.However, I can't possibly be the only one to see the error at the start of Chapter 2 where he equates the counting numbers and the cardinal numbers.Surely all the mathematicians caught it - didn't they?The cardinals include 0, but he starts off with the series "1, 2, 3..."I note that Mathworld contains the same error, but wikipedia does not.The wikipedia article is better.

excellent!
The great ideas that are our intellectual inheritance are much less valuable if only a privileged few can understand them. We need more books like this one!

A difficult but rewarding book
Petzold makes a great effort towards explaining Turing's famous proof. Turing's scheme of variable naming was extremely difficult for me to follow and so many formula's, particularly towards the end of the book where they become increasingly complex, were beyond me even with Petzold's clear and complete explanations. I was able to follow Petzold's explanations for why Turing takes the path he does throughout the book and overall feel that though I couldn't grasp some of the technicalities, I have an appreciation for the logical path Turing went down in envisioning his machine, and the role he played in the emergence of computers. ... Read more

Product Description
"On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem", Alan Turing's paper of 1937, contained his thesis that every effective computation can be programmed on such an automation as that called Turing machine. Furthermore it proved the unsolvability of the halting problem and of the decision problem for first order logic, and it presented the invention of the universal Turing machine. It is that publication that will presumably be acknowledged as marking sub specie aeternitatis the beginning of the "computer age". This volume recognizes the still continuing influence of the Turing machine concept by collecting contributions from international specialists in logic, computability, mathematics, biology, physics, linguistics, and cognitive science, thus signalling the exceptionally wide scope of that concept. ... Read more

Product Description
The history of the computer is entwined with that of the modern world and most famously with the life of one man, Alan Turing. A machine unlike any other, this ‘electronic brain’ is of apparently universal application; yet paradoxically, given its almost infinite scope, it can only follow instructions. How did this device, which first appeared a mere 50 years ago, come to structure and dominate our lives so totally?

Turing, widely hailed as the man instrumental in breaking the Nazi Enigma code, is also regarded as the father of the modern computer. In this book, Jon Agar tells the fascinating history of the appearance of the universal machine: from the work of Charles Babbage in the 1820s and 30s, and the data-sorting nightmare of the 1890 American Census, to Turing’s formulation of a ‘computing machine’ designed to solve an infamous mathematical problem of his day, and his later explorations into Artificial Intelligence. Spurred on by the imperatives of the Second World War, the first commercial electronic computer was built in 1951 and nicknamed the ‘Blue Pig’. Yet Turing did not live long enough to celebrate its success. A victim of Cold War paranoia, his prosecution for homosexuality led to a severing of his connections with the British secret service, and shortly after to his suspected suicide in 1954.

Setting events in a rich historical context, Turing and the Universal Machine makes the development of the computer readily understandable but no less remarkable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Excellent read for at least some, hopefully all
I picked this book up randomly at the library between classes. I only got about half way through before I had to leave but I made sure to tuck it away and finish it later that night. Excellent read for one sitting. Even if the author doesn't accurately present the true intentions and motivations behind Babbage and Turing's breakthroughs, he still manages to establish that computer science was an evolution of thought not some spontaneous stroke of brilliance. By the end of the book you feel a little starved for information but that is what makes this book such an excellent primer for additional reading on a number of subjects. This book really is a primer, don't read it if you have PHDs in history and computer science. I don't want to see Dr. whats his face giving this book half a star. It's a good book period.

Fine, as far as it goes
This book presents a credible history of the development of the modern computer, albeit through deeply-tinted, rose-colored spectacles. The treatment, though, is rather superficial, and this volume reads more like a juvenile history than a work for adults.

The author filters his story through the lens of a Dickensian view of industrial development. It would seem that the nineteenth century was a hellish world of alienated workers slaving like drones in chaotic, out-of-control facories that cried out for organization and control. This despite the fact that the nineteenth century saw the greatest increases in standards of living in history.

Curiously, the author confuses the nineteenth century quest for a universal computing maching with the eighteenth century quest for The Longitude. It would seem that the development of the computer was spurred on by the need to keep the Royal Navy off the rocks at the Isles of Scilly, a problem which had been resolved in the mid-eighteenth century by John Harrison's method of determining longitude, which required only relatively simple navigational computations. There is precious little discussion of the insurance industry, whose growth during the nineteenth century created a need for detailed and lengthy actuarial tables was the original impetus behind Charles Babbage's efforts to build a 'difference engine' in the nineteenth century.

The material on Turing and twentieth century work towards a universal computing machine is better. But even here, the author's biases show through. The material on the Nazi engineer Konrad Zuse isn't always covered in works of this sort. Yet Zuse is portrayed as "only a young engineer, in a lowly position in a large company..." (p. 45). This sort of thing has long since grown tiresome. One wishes the author would simply get on with the story.

Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of this history is the author's penchant for describing people as if they were computers. Right off the bat, the author characterizes us as living in a "two-tier modern world of general-and special-purpose humans...built in the nineteenth century." (p. 11) Or later, when the British civil service is described as being comprised of "generalist 'intellectuals' and rule-following 'mechanicals'..." (p. 143)

And therein lies the true theme of this book. We live in a two-class society, made up of intellectuals who think for us and the rest of us, who follow the rules they create. And we are all quite happily managed by the electronic computer. This thesis would be laughable if the author set it up as a straw-man, to then attack in moral outrage. But incredibly, Professor Agar seems to view it as the natural and desirable order of things. It makes for very interesting, if somewhat naive, reading.

If you have never read a history of computing and are interested in the subject, thenthis isn't really a bad book. It's just that there are so many books out there that are better than this one. I'd suggest a search on "computer history" here on Amazon. You will get a list of a dozen or so histories that tell the story with more distance and less bias than this volume.

Profound Ideas
This brief "history" is more of a thought-provoking analysis of the idea of computing than a recital of the crucial events leading to what we currently think of as a modern computer.Though it does provide some fascinating historical tidbits not found elsewhere, the power of this work lies in its discussion of the underlying theory of computing.For example, Mr. Agar's initial take on Babbage, i.e. that in designing the analytical engine he was merely recreating a manufacturing center, with which he was intimately familiar, is just the first of many profound observations that seem to be tossed off without further comment.Portraying Bletchley Park as a computer itself with the various huts being distributed processors was also a sound analogy and would be a tremendously effective segue into a story about the Internet.The story of Mr. Zuse's machine is likewise a fine example of Mr. Agar's thesis that the increase in computing power merely reflects the increasing complexity of our world.He raises a brilliantly multi-faceted what came first--chicken or egg--argument.Did complexity give birth to the computer or vice-versa?However, I think his ideas go well beyond that premise--though the comments on modern bureaucracy and corporate management were rather cryptic, isn't it true that in the world of "google" we are all distributed processors in a gigantic Universal Machine?

I am surprised that the author didn't fully develop the swiss knife analogy with which he began the book.In a real sense any stand-alone computer is a special purpose machine because it is limited by its user.It is only when programming is universally understood or, better yet, a transparent part of using the machine that we have a truly universal machine.And that is developing right under our noses--the internet has in just a few short years completely changed the educational experience (given the power of the internet my kids have never had to worry about not being able to find the right books in the local library), it has dramatically changed the marketplace (the most obscure books or materials are but a click away), it continues to redefine modern media (Drudge?) and to churn out innovation.But is the latest step towards a truly universal machine--the Internet--the result of society's changes or the cause?

We are blind to the significance of the computer because we are surrounded by its effects.Something huge is coming--the machine envisioned by Turing is still being developed--will we be ready for it, will we be able to understand its power, will we even recognize it when it arrives?

A good primer for the topic at hand
I was really hoping for a more detailed time line of the events leading upto the ENIGMA and what eventually lead to the first commercial computers during the late 50s and mid 60s. The author spent a great deal of time detailing the mathematical advances and controversies that spurred the technological advances we see today. Overall the book was mildly interesting, but probably not for the average reader. On the other end of the spectrum it was too much of a primer for anyone with some historical knowledge of mathematics and its part in developing computers.

Eccentric history of the modern computer
This curious little book is a pleasant read for those with a knowledge of the history of computers -- heaven knows what others will make of it! It begins with a brief survey of Charles Babbage, which is generally accurate. Followed by some excellent information on Hollerith and the history of punched cards. Agar then covers Konrad Zuse in much more detail than I've seen elsewhere. (Zuse is one of those computer pioneers who was lost to history for a bit and now rediscovered. He built computers in his living room to help design Nazi airplanes.) There follows a whirlwind tour of early American efforts by Aiken, Atanasoff and Mauchly.

Then things get strange as Agar jumps to an in-depth explanation of the basis of modern mathematics (way over my head) with a discussion of Hilbert, Godel, Riemann, Cantor, etc. The book then winds up with a discussion of Turing's contributions to mathematics and code breaking, with an overview of British code-breaking efforts and post-war computer development. All of this overlaid with some peculiar attempts to philosophize on the nature and future of computers.

Whew! You can't do justice to all this in a 150 page paperback, and he doesn't. But the book is well-written and travels down some less-traveled roads, so it's a fun read for computer folk. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive monograph investigates the computational power of Turing machines with sublogarithmic space. The studies are devoted to the Turing machine model introduced by Stearns, Hartmanis, and Lewis (1965) with a two-way read-only input tape and a separate two-way read-write work tape. The book presents the key results on space complexity, also as regards the classes of languages acceptable, under the perspective of a sublogarithmic number of cells used during computation. It originates from courses given by the author at the Technical University of Gdansk and Gdansk University in 1991 and 1992. It was finalized in 1994 when the author visited Paderborn University and includes the most recent contributions to the field. ... Read more

Product Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Machines, Computations, and Universality, MCU 2007, held in Orleans, France, September 10-13, 2007.

The 18 revised full papers presented together with 9 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected. The topics include Turing machines, register machines, word processing, cellular automata, tiling of the plane, neural networks, molecular computations, BSS machines, infinite cellular automata, real machines, and quantum computing.

Product Description
This book has a NEW EXPANDED EDITION with ISBN number 0-9746958-4-X. The new edition is entitled, "The Metatheory of Physics Theories, And the Theory of Everything as a Quantum Computer Language" with three new chapters on the Metatheory of Physics and some typo corrections. The reader is strongly recommended to obtain the new edition on the new edition's web page!

Description of OLD Edition (this web page):This breakthrough book establishes deep connections between elementary particle theories such as the Standard Model and Superstring theories, and computer languages such as Assembly language, C, and C++ suitably extended. It also proves, for the first time, that the universe must be quantum in nature based on Godel’s celebrated theorem (that there are statements in any non-trivial mathematical deductive system that cannot be proved or disproved.) Therefore all attempts at building a deterministic fundamental theory of physics (such as Bohm’s theory) are unacceptable.

Some of the New Results described in this book are:

It proves that Gödel’s Theorem implies that the ultimate theory of Nature must be a quantum theory. It cannot be deterministic. This proof may be regarded as the first result of a meta-physics that describes the nature and limitations of physical theories just as metamathematics describes the nature and limitations of mathematical deductive systems.

The definition of quantum and classical probabilistic, non-deterministic Chomsky-like grammars. There appear to be two general types of probabilistic, non-deterministic grammars.

A map between Quantum Grammars and the elementary particle Standard Model. Particles form the alphabet; Lagrangian interaction terms define quantum probabilistic production rules.

A map between Quantum Computers and Superstring Theories. Inductively deduces a SuperString formalism from a polycephalic Quantum Computer formalism with the processor and memory forming the Fermion sector and the tape heads forming the boson sector.

A map between Gödel numbers and the "space" of elementary particle Lagrangians is developed.

A quantum computer formulation of Assembly language and the C language capable of extension to other computer languages such as C++, Java and Pascal.

A suggestion that quark confinement might be the result of quarks being non-terminal symbols in quantum Turing Machine implementations of elementary particle theories. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the Second Edition of Cosmos and Consciousness. There are three versions with identical content but different packaging: the version with ISBN 0972079513 is a compact 6 x 9 inch soft cover; the version with ISBN 0972079556 is a compact 6 x 9 inch hard cover; and the version with ISBN 0972079548 is a larger (7.5 x 9.25 inches) more attractive soft cover version. Click on the All Editions link to see the display of all the versions.

Cosmos and Consciousness presents a simple idea with potentially profound implications not only for Science but also for Philosophy. It develops a new foundation, at both a popular, and a technical level, for current fundamental theories of elementary particles, the Standard Model and SuperString Theory.

Both of these theories can be placed on a quantum computer language foundation. The idea: elementary particles such as electrons, quarks and so on can be viewed as the "letters" or symbols of a cosmic alphabet, or cosmic code, in a computer grammar (language). A new view of reality emerges from this perspective: the universe is one "tremendous" word. This new theoretical basis is consistent with all known physical experiments and theory.

Cosmos and Consciousness explores this challenging idea showing how fundamental physics theories can be based on quantum computer languages, and incidentally developing many new features of Quantum Computers. A Quantum Computer is a type of computer that is based on quantum mechanics. One of its most important features is that "computations" take place probabilistically. A quantum computation does not have one result or answer; there is a spectrum of results with each result having a certain quantum probability of being produced by the Quantum Computer. When two particles collide, as they do in particle accelerators, a "particle" Quantum Computer produces a spectrum of possible output particle states - each with its own probability of being produced.

The obvious analogy of "the universe as a word" to religious and philosophical concepts such as the "Word" leads to a comparison of this view with parallel ideas in these disciplines. It brings Science to a startling similarity with the religious concept of the Word - a concept that is not only Christian but is also prominent in Judaism, and was prominent even earlier in the Ancient Egyptian religion 5000 years ago.

With the universe reduced to a word - structured by the laws of physics - and matter reduced to symbols the book shows the insubstantiality of the universe in its most fundamental parts. Human Consciousness is similarly insubstantial. So

Cosmos and Consciousness then analyzes human Consciousness and shows it can be viewed as a classical probabilistic computer. A classical probabilistic computer is similar to a Quantum Computer with the main practical difference being that its probabilities are not quantum but classical in origin.

The author shows that the relation between consciousness and the brain is analogous to the relation of a personal computer Windows display and the computer's brain - the chips and electronics. The computer display normally shows no evidence of the electronics generating it just as consciousness shows no evidence of the brain electronics that it is based on.

The book develops "Personified Physics" - an extension of the conventional idea of the quantum mechanical observer to include other aspects of Consciousness such as Free Will. The result is a unified view of Man and the universe. Man (i.e. intelligent life) is implicit in the most fundamental laws of Physics.

Along the way many interesting side topics are explored such as communication with other semi-intelligent earth species, communication with aliens through Project SETI, the nature of communication and language, the origin of symbols such as the Egyptian ankh in natural phenomena, and the nature of physical theories.

The book has many parts that can be easily handled by the non-technical reader. One interesting chapter presents astronomical and archaeological data (obtained during the author's trip to Egypt) suggesting the ankh hieroglyphic may have originated in a giant Megacomet that appeared in the skies of Egypt between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago.

This book should be of interest to the layman, archaeologists, physicists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and students of Consciousness. The style is simple, clear, easy reading except for some technical chapters.

The book presents frontier results in a way that should appeal to many readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Author Reply to Doug Keenan
The theme of Cosmos ... is that language is the ultimate reality of the universe. To that end it shows the fundamental physical nature of the universe can be viewed as a Quantum Computer with a Quantum Computer language. (Both Superstring Theory and the Standard Model are candidates for this language.) It also shows the human mind can be viewed as a type of classical probabilistic computer. Thus it shows a similarity in the laws of mind and matter. Many pieces are assembled to support this unified view. It is not surprising that some will not see how the pieces fit together although it is clearly and repeatedly stated. Since the book also contains original, new research results this author felt it was necessary to describe them in some detail as a matter of intellectual honesty. These technical parts should be of interest to the popular reader as well as the scientist since it shows how physics is done. I can understand how some might view this as less interesting. Yet I feel that a semi-popular book that is both for the popular audience and the scientist is more worthwhile then pabulum books that oversimplify and avoid equations at any cost to make sales at the expense of educating the reader.

What a disappointment!
I wanted to like this book - I really did.It brings up an ambitious thesis then barely pays it mind, opting instead to spend page after page on less interesting topics.Not internally coordinated at all, it seems more like a compilation of unrelated writings and less like a comprehensive approach to the subject.Back up Dr. Blaha, and try again!

Exciting New View of the Universe
I found this book hard to resist. The fundamental particles of matter are "letters" in a cosmic code or alphabet. The universe is a "word" extending from the Big Bang until the end of time. The fundamental theories of physics-the Standard Model and SuperStrings-can be viewed as a quantum computer language. The idea that the universe is a word resonates with philosophic and theological notions that God is the word-logos-that began in Ancient Egypt. Ankhs are symbols derived from an ancient comet over Egypt. Human consciousness can be viewed as a probabilistic computer. New types of quantum computers are explored.

The book overflows with exciting new ideas. The presentation is clear and easy to read. At times the book gets technically challenging-the author proves his points-not just vague verbal assertions without proof. This book is the only attempt that I am aware of that tries to present original new scientific ideas for the first tome together with a popular discussion of these ideas.

In addition to providing solid science, it is a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion of Science and Religion.

Consciousness - A Natural Part of the Universe
Dr. Blaha's book, Cosmos and Consciousness, is the first philosophical writing I have seen that bases its arguments on modern physics.Dr. Blaha's understanding of quantum mechanics, general relativity theory, and linguistics from computer science provides an exciting framework on how to perceive the universe. He gives real meaning to how ancient beliefs came about, the relationship of observations to knowledge, and the expression of modern physics through language.He shows why the concepts of free will, a superstring quantum model of the cosmos, and a probabilistic computer model of consciousness are consistent with modern physics.Also, he presents this SuperString Quantum Computer Theory of the Cosmos and this Probabilistic Computer Theory of the Consciousness as what he refers to as "Personified Physics", or Physics as the embodiment of people.

I found Dr. Blaha's concept of the universe and man's place in the universe consistent with what we know today.It leaves one feeling that we are naturally part of the universe and that consciousness should be a common phenomenon throughout the universe (that is, that other conscious beings would exist). ... Read more

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Turing's connectionism provides a detailed and in-depth analysis of Turing's almost forgotten ideas on connectionist machines. In a little known paper entitled "Intelligent Machinery", Turing already investigated connectionist models as early as 1948. Unfortunately, his work was dismissed by his employer as a "schoolboy essay" and went unpublished until 1968, 14 years after his death.

In this book, Christof Teuscher analyzes all aspects of Turing's "unorganized machines". Turing himself also proposed a sort of genetic algorithm to train the networks. This idea has been resumed by the author and genetic algorithms are used to build and train Turing's unorganized machines. Teuscher's work starts from Turing's initial ideas, but importantly goes beyond them. Many new kinds of machines and new aspects are considered, e.g., hardware implementation, analysis of the complex dynamics of the networks, hypercomputation, and learning algorithms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Turing's neural networks and genetical search
A programmable digital computer, based on Alan Turing's design, ran its first program in 1950 at the National Physical Laboratory, London. Even today, every computer in the world remains computationally equivalent to a Turing Machine. It is little known however, that Turing also investigated neural network architectures as early as 1948, and before the term genetic algorithm was coined, proposed configuring his networks with a "genetical search". In this book Teuscher presents the most extensive exploration of Turing's neural networks available. The book contains over 100 diagrams, detailed examinations of the logical behaviour of Turing's networks, experiments into their emergent properties and extensions of Turing's ideas based on recent findings. An understanding of Turing's networks allows insight into a number of modern research areas such as Kauffman's work on the principles of self-organisation, the boundaries of computability, and even the real neural networks of living things (Turing claimed that his neural networks were probably the simplest possible model of the human cortex). Because the discussion in the book starts with Turing's early networks and progresses through to current research, it can also be read as an accessible overview of the history of the field. In addition, the book makes it clear that there are many interesting research questions still to be answered in this area. As such, this book will be of interest to historians of computer science and modern researchers alike. ... Read more

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Turing and the Computer offers an encapsulation of the groundwork that led to the invention of the computer as we know it and an absorbing account of the man who helped develop it. Eccentric and principled, Alan Turing would lay aside a brilliant career in mathematics to serve his country by breaking German codes during the Second World War. Openly homosexual, he would later be put on trial on indecency charges and forced to undergo hormone treatments that wrecked his body and his spirit. But the modern machine he helped create lives on. Just a few of the big ideas included in this riveting book are how Turing mapped out the theory of computers before a single computer had been conceived, how Turing's Colossus broke the German Enigma codes, and Turing's proof of the existence of artificial intelligence.Amazon.com Review
Few concepts in the history of 20th-century thought are asrich with both philosophical and practical implications as thecomputer. And few people in the history of computing are asintellectually and personally complex as Alan Turing, the man whosebrilliant mathematical imagination laid the foundation for computersas we know them. You could easily spend the rest of the millenniumreading up on Turing and his ideas, but if you've only got anafternoon, this engaging, pamphlet-length summary of the man's lifeand work should get you nicely up to speed.

Author Paul Strathernsets Turing's accomplishments in their historical context. He startswith the long prehistory of the computer--its roots in devices such asthe abacus, the slide rule, and Charles Babbage's remarkablysophisticated 19th-century "difference engine." Strathern then movesdeftly through the great mathematical debates that led to Turing'sformulation of the abstract "universal computing machine" in themid-1930s. The author also lucidly presents Turing's contributions toturning that abstraction into a concrete mechanism, beginning withTuring's work on the Colossus machine, which cracked Germany's secretcodes during World War II.

Strathern conveys with equal vividnessthe haunted private side of Turing's life--his furtive homosexuality,his difficult relationships, and his conviction in the early '50s oncharges of indecency, a not-so-private scandal that apparently led tohis suicide. The book owes its rich detail to the work of pioneeringTuring biographer Alan Hodges, and Strathern graciously acknowledgesthe debt. But the accomplishment of packing Turing's big life and bigideas into such a compact package is entirely Strathern'sown. --Julian Dibbell ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Computer Journalism
If you want to read about Turing and the origins of computing on the level and in the style of your Sunday newspaper, this is your book (especially if that Sunday newspaper of yours comes in tabloid format). Otherwise, go for something more intelligent, like A. Hodges, Davies or Copeland.

Learn about computer history!
What? You have never heard of Alan Turing? You don't deserve tolive! Quick, buy this book (which [is inexpensive]) and learn everything about computer history before uncle Gabriel discover it and pull your ear lobes! This book shows the computer history, beginning from abacus and obviously focuses at Alan Turing and his most important inventions for computing history, the Colossus and the ENIAC. What? You have never heard of ENIAC? Promise to us: come back here in Hardware Secrets only after you have finished reading this book, ok?

Nice biography, but not technical enough
This book gives a short overview over the life of Alan Turing, though it does not go as deep into detail as Douglas Hofstaedter does - and that was just one article in his Metamagicum collection! But if you don't already have Hofstaedter on your bookshelf, you might as well buy this book.

Unfortunately, the mathematical and technical stuff in the book are only described very vaguely - I did not understand how the Enigma code was cracked, or how the proofs concerning computability worked. I am not quite sure whether the author understood what he was writing about.

Nice biography, but not technical enough
This book gives a short overview over the life of Alan Turing, though it does not go as deep into detail as Douglas Hofstaedter does - and that was just one article in his Metamagicum collection! But if you don't already have Hofstaedter on your bookshelf, you might as well buy this book.

Unfortunately, the mathematical and technical stuff in the book are only described very vaguely - I did not understand how the Enigma code was cracked, or how the proofs concerning computability worked. I am not quite sure whether the author understood what he was writing about.

A good appetizer
This little book offers a quick overview of the history of the computer until eventually settling on Alan Turing and his paramount contributions. Obviously it is not meant to be exhaustive but it opens up a menu of topicsto be followed if one is interested, all circling around Turing: computertheory, mathematics and the solution of cryptographical problems, BletchleyPark's contribution to winning WorldWarII, artificial intelligence,mathematical theory, mid-20th century persecution of homosexuals inBritain, eccentricity and the nature of genius, the very peculiarpersonality of Turing himself. It's a little book that explains some basicsand opens many doors, for which one has to be grateful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Mammalian Mathematics
Terrific little book with a strange new vision of what counting is.Rotman not only lays out an alternative theoretical account of what it means to do mathematics, but, by sketching out a type of non-Euclidean arithmetic, goes ahead and does a little bit on the sly.In the end, this is very lucid, accessible, and thought provoking way to stop simply taking infinity for granted.

Absolutely brilliant alternative to Platonism
Ever since the first explosion of mathematics in the West, some 2500 years ago, philosophers have wondered from whence does mathematics arise? For most of this time, and for most of these questioners, the answer has beensome form of "platonism" - some variation on the view thatnumbers and other mathematical "objects" exist in a transcendentrealm, a priori to, and independent from the material world. Throughouthistory, several attempts have been made to articulate a coherentalternative to this essentially religious view. At last Brian Rotman hassucceeded in this task - and the view he offers is astonishing in itselegance and satisfaction. A truly brilliant and deeply important work, AdInfinitum should be required reading for all those interested in thephilosophy of mathematics. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Turing Completeness, Non-Deterministic Turing Machine, Langton's Ant, Universal Turing Machine, Post-turing Machine, Turing Machine Equivalents, Turing Machine Examples, Machine That Always Halts, Turmite, Turing Machine Gallery, Quantum Turing Machine, Probabilistic Turing Machine, Read Only Right Moving Turing Machines, Wang B-Machine, Multi-Track Turing Machine, Zeno Machine, Turing Switch, Crossing Sequence, Multitape Turing Machine, Multi-String Turing Machine With Input and Output, Turing Machine Simulator. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 210. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: A Turing machine is a theoretical device that manipulates symbols contained on a strip of tape. Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU inside of a computer. The "Turing" machine was described by Alan Turing in 1937, who called it an "a(utomatic)-machine". Turing machines are not intended as a practical computing technology, but rather as a thought experiment representing a computing machine. They help computer scientists understand the limits of mechanical computation. Turing gave a succinct definition of the experiment in his 1948 essay, "Intelligent Machinery". Referring to his 1936 publication, Turing wrote that the Turing machine, here called a Logical Computing Machine, consisted of: ...an infinite memory capacity obtained in the form of an infinite tape marked out into squares, on each of which a symbol could be printed. At any moment there is one symbol in the machine; it is called the scanned symbol. The machine can alter the scanned symbol and its behavior is in part determined by that symbol, but the symbols on the tape elsewhere do not affect the behavior ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=30403 ... Read more

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Chapters: Turing Machine, Church-turing Thesis, Turing Award, Turing Test, History of the Church-turing Thesis, Banburismus, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, I. J. Good, Turing Reduction, Automatic Computing Engine, Reverse Turing Test, Description Number, National Physical Laboratory, Alan Turing Memorial, Symmetric Turing Machine, Unorganized Machine, Breaking the Code, Church-turing-deutsch Principle, Christopher Morcom. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 173. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Turing test is a proposal for a test of a machine's ability to demonstrate intelligence. It proceeds as follows: a human judge engages in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each of which tries to appear human. All participants are placed in isolated locations. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test. In order to test the machine's intelligence rather than its ability to render words into audio, the conversation is limited to a text-only channel such as a computer keyboard and screen. The test was proposed by Alan Turing in his 1950 paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence, which opens with the words: "I propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?'" Since "thinking" is difficult to define, Turing chooses to "replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words." Turing's new question is: "Are there imaginable digital computers which would do well in the "? This question, Turing believed, is one that can actually be answered. In the remainder of the paper, he argued against all the major objections to this proposition. In the years since 1950, the test has proven to be both highly influential and widely criticized, and...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=21391751 ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In his A New Kind of Science, Stephen Wolfram found a universal 2-state 5-color Turing machine, and conjectured that a particular 2-state 3-color Turing machine (hereinafter (2,3) Turing machine) might be universal as well. On May 14, 2007, Wolfram announced a $25,000 prize to be won by the first person to prove or disprove the universality of the (2,3) Turing machine. According to Wolfram, the purpose of the prize was to encourage research to help answer foundational questions associated with the structure of what he calls the "computational universe". On 24 October 2007, it was announced that the prize had been won by Alex Smith, a student in electronics and computing at the University of Birmingham. ... Read more

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Chapters: Turing Machine, Finite-State Machine, Set Theory, Lambda Calculus, Boolean Satisfiability Problem, Automated Theorem Proving, Static Code Analysis, Precondition, Postcondition, Abstract Interpretation, Vienna Development Method, Isabelle, Liskov Substitution Principle, Algorithm Characterizations, Algorithm Examples, Uml State Machine, Ibm Rational Unified Process, Software Development Process, Model Checking, Reification, Dependability, Assertion, Satisfiability Modulo Theories, Temporal Logic, Abstract State Machines, Bisimulation, Static Timing Analysis, Hoare Logic, Formal System, Formal Equivalence Checking, Loop Variant, Life-Critical System, And-Inverter Graph, Asynchronous System, Formal Semantics of Programming Languages, Uclid, Verification and Validation, Computer-Assisted Proof, Proof of Concept, Retiming, Formal Verification, Loop Invariant, Regulated Rewriting, Bcs-Facs, Predicate Transformer Semantics, Runtime Verification, Guard, Statistical Static Timing Analysis, Qed Manifesto, High and Low Level, Dynamic Program Analysis, Syntactic Methods, Logic in Computer Science, Binary Moment Diagram, Separation Logic, B-Method, United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology, Partial Order Reduction, Program Refinement, Beaver Bit-Vector Decision Procedure, Ca/eztest, British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science, Poplmark Challenge, Extended Finite State Machine, Robbins Algebra, Solver, Effect System, Altran Praxis, Formal Specification, Abstraction Model Checking, Temporal Logic in Finite-State Verification, Algebraic Specification, Invariant Based Programming, Program Derivation, Programming Research Group, Formal Aspects of Computing, Mondex, Slam Project, Oracle Unified Method, Correctness, Categorical Set Theory, Strict Function, Refinement Calculus, Automated Proof Checking, Interval Temporal Logic, Temporal Logic of Actions, International Symposium on Logic-Based Pr...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=6901703 ... Read more

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Chapters: Algorithm, Turing Machine, Computation, Formal Language, Lambda Calculus, Quantum Computer, Idempotence, Closure, Spintronics, Indirect Self-Reference, Pseudorandomness, Extractor, Quasi-Empiricism in Mathematics, Interactive Computation, Algorithm Characterizations, Algorithm Examples, Granular Computing, Rough Set, Exact Cover, Natural Computing, Recursion, Pi Calculus, Dominance-Based Rough Set Approach, Dna Computing, Quantum Digital Signature, Gödel Prize, Motion Planning, Quantum Algorithm, Scientific Community Metaphor, Krohn-rhodes Theory, Categorical Logic, Photonic Computing, Schwartz-zippel Lemma, Programming Language Theory, Semigroup Action, Markov Random Field, Pursuit-Evasion, Bisimulation, Lowest Common Ancestor, Roger Schank, Chemical Computer, Abstract Family of Acceptors, Biologically Inspired Computing, Formal Semantics of Programming Languages, Conditional Random Field, Promise Theory, Formal Verification, Gustafson's Law, Corecursion, Recursive Definition, Institution, Computational Problem, Predicate Transformer Semantics, Property Testing, Task-Oriented Information Modelling, Digital Probabilistic Physics, Markov Logic Network, Grammar Systems Theory, Computational Irreducibility, Computational Overhead, Neighbour-Sensing Model, Notation for Theoretic Scheduling Problems, Monge Array, Discrete Tomography, British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science, Institutional Model Theory, Acm Sigact, Institut National de Recherche En Informatique et En Automatique, Full Employment Theorem, Journal of Automata, Languages and Combinatorics, Automated Reasoning, Coinduction, Simulation Preorder, Dynamic Data Driven Application System, Algorithm Engineering, Peptide Computing, Computability in Europe, European Association for Theoretical Computer Science, Fredkin Finite Nature Hypothesis, Logp Machine, Probabilistic Bisimulation, Nominal Techniques, Knuth Prize, Hidden Markov Random Field, Expander Mix...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=775 ... Read more