exhibition
30/10/2020
ZKM & Digitalen Kunsthalle ZDF
»Is the universe a big computer? The question is not new: Konrad Zuse, pioneering computer scientist, described the universe as a large cellular automaton back in 1969. In his opinion it is imaginable as a discrete computational system composed of cells that evolve following pre-set rules by considering the states of other cells in their locality. Cellular automata can compute functions and solve algorithmic problems. Zuse called his hypothesis »calculating space« [Rechnender Raum], and it can model the universe as a combination of many small computers (in this case equivalent to automata) that adds up to one large computer. This exhibition reflects the idea of calculating space, but also Seth Lloyd’s »programmed universe,« which proposes that the universe is one huge quantum computer.«
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