Variation and Diversity: A Tribute to Freeman Dyson

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-447
Author(s):  
John Staddon
Keyword(s):  
Freeman Dyson

Conference in Honour of the 90th Birthday of Freeman Dyson

2014 ◽  
Vol 03 (01) ◽  
pp. 18-21
Author(s):  
APPN Editorial Team
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Star Trek ◽  
Inside Surface ◽  
90Th Birthday ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Freeman Dyson ◽  
Data Informed

In an episode of the popular science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D happened upon a full Dyson sphere when its gravitational fluctuations brought them to a stop. After some analysis of the sphere, Lieutenant Commander Data informed that the inside surface area of the sphere was equal to "250 million class-M worlds".

In Praise of a Great Contrarian

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Krauss
Keyword(s):  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
Freeman Dyson

Always a perfect gentleman, Freeman Dyson nevertheless possessed a twinkle in his eye and a wry smile even as he invariably disagreed with whatever you had to say. Dyson, a Nobel laureate in physics, died on February 28, 2020, at the age of ninety-six. In this tribute, Lawrence Krauss recounts his friendship with Dyson and celebrates his life, achievements, and influence in physics.

Simulated worlds, physical eschatology, the finite nature hypothesis and the final anthropic principle

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 203-226
Author(s):  
N.H.E. Prince
Keyword(s):  
Anthropic Principle ◽  
Computational Power ◽  
Computational Theory ◽  
Intelligent Software ◽  
Intelligent Information Processing ◽  
Freeman Dyson ◽  
Processing Software ◽  
Intelligent Information ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Far Future

Meaning and purpose can be given to life, consciousness, the laws of physics, etc. If one assumes that the Universe is endowed with some form of (strong) anthropic principle. In particular, the final anthropic principle (FAP) of Barrow and Tipler postulates that intelligent life will continue in the Universe until the far future when the computational power of descendent civilizations will be sufficient to run simulations of enormous scale and power. Tipler has claimed that it will be possible to create simulations with rendered environments and inhabitants, i.e. intelligent software constructs, which are effectively ‘people’. Proponents of this FAP claim that if both substrate independence and the pattern identity postulate hold, then these simulations would be able to contain reanimated individuals that once lived. These claims have been heavily criticized but the growing study of physical eschatology, initiated by Freeman Dyson in a seminal work, and the developments in computational theory have made some progress in showing that simulations containing intelligent information processing software constructs, which may be conscious, are not only feasible but may be a reality within the next few centuries. In this work, arguments and conservative calculations are given which concur with these latter more minimal claims. FAP-type simulations inevitably rely on cosmology type, but current observations would seem to rule appropriate models out. However, it is argued that dark energy, described in the recent forms of ‘quintessence’ cosmological models may show the current conclusions from observations to be too presumptive. In this paper some relevant physical and cosmological aspects are reviewed in the light of the recent propositions regarding the plausibility of certain simulations given by Bostrom, and the longer held postulate of finite nature – due to Fredkin – which has grown in credibility, following advances in quantum mechanics and the computational theory of cellular automata. This latter postulate supports the conclusions of Bostrom, which, under certain plausible assumptions, can imply that our Universe is itself already a simulated entity. It is demonstrated in this paper how atemporal memory connections could make efficient ancestor simulations possible, solving many of the objections faced by the FAP of Barrow and Tipler. Also, if finite nature is true then it can offer a similar vindication to this FAP. Indeed the conclusions of this postulate can be realized more easily, but only if the existence of life within the simulation/Universe is not merely incidental to the (currently unknown) purpose for which it was generated to fulfil.

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