TITLE: The Universe is a Visualization
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: August 28, 2008  4:22 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
I'm not a physicist and don't keep up on the latest -- or
even much of the not-so-latest -- in string theory.  But
recently a colleague pointed me toward
<A HREF=
"http://www.stanford.edu/dept/physics/people/faculty/susskind_leonard.html">
   Leonard Susskind</A>'s
2008 book,
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Black-Hole-War-Stephen-Mechanics/dp/0316016403">
   The Black Hole War</A>.
Before tracking down the book, I read a
<A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/books/la-bk-susskind13-2008jul13,1,3426367.story">
   review</A>
from the Los Angeles Times.  The review introduced me to
Susskind's "holographic principle", which holds that

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
... our universe is a three-dimensional projection of information
stored in two dimensions at the boundary of space ...
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Suddenly, data and algorithm visualizations seem so much more
important than just ways to make pretty graphs.  When we tell
the world that computation is everywhere, we may be more right
than I ever realized.  Add in the principle of the conservation
of information that lies at the center of the dispute between
Susskind's work and Hawking's, and "computing for everyone"
takes on a whole new meaning.

Note to self: read this book.
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