My Goodreads Review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read this book in the midst of a wave of readings on viewing the world as information (cybernetics, thermodynamics, information theory). I can’t say it introduced many new concepts to this conversation, but more importantly, Seth Lloyd is a wizard with strange analogies that cast old ideas in new frameworks. Many scientists are so obsessed with the importance of their ideas (read: Stephen Wolfram) that they’d be horrified to toss them around and play with them like a child learning new words. Like Feynman though, Lloyd has avoided building a scientific pillow fort and posting his “no jokes allowed” sign. (And like Feynman, he’s probably been mistaken for a baked potato a few times.) I’d like to see him write more, but his papers on arxiv are (in comparison to most physics papers) just as quirky but accessible.
If anything, this book mostly served mostly as reinforcement:
- reinforcement of my appreciation of analogy (both as an indication of understanding and a means for teaching)
- reinforcement of my interest in this line of readings
- reinforcement of my intent to apply for MIT’s quantum information summer program for undergraduates (which Seth Lloyd heads)
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