Mystery 'dark flow' a sign of other universes?

New Scientist article summarizes recent paper by Sasha Kashlinsky of the Goddard Space Flight Center setting forth a theory the "dark flow" effect occurs because our universe was once influenced by neighbouring domains (arxiv.org/abs/0810.5388).

Article on Ray Kurzweil's predictions: mind upload by 2040?

This article interviews Ray Kurzweil and summarizes some of his predictions for the next forty years.

Kurzweil is the author of "The Singularity is Near" and is well known for his predictions about technological developments in the coming century, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and in improving longevity and quality of life.

The Many Worlds FAQ page

Frequently asked questions regarding the Many Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics

How many universes in the multiverse?

Talking about the multiverse created by eternal inflation here, versus the quantum mechanical Many Worlds multiverse.

The authors discuss the possibility that the primary constraint on the number of countable, distinguishable universes lies within the limitations of the observer to distinguish differences among universes versus the constraints on the numbers of universes allowed by the properties of the multiverse. In other words, the multiverse allows more universes than the differences observers would be able to distinguish and remember among these universes.

Size of the Multiverse

The Most Powerful Force in the Universe

The most powerful force in the universe from The Technium

Another article about the development of artificial human level and greater intelligence

A lot of articles out there about this kind of thing this summer.

Closer to an artificial brain

New York Times Begins to Worry About Computers Smarter Than People

I have notice a few stories in the New York Times discussing the possibility of superhuman artificial intelligence this summer. Links Here and Here.

Quantum theory, the Church-Turing principle and the universal quantum computer

Old paper by David Deutsch, describes why a quantum computer performing certain functions would essentially prove the MWI of quantum physics

I have described elsewhere (Deutsch 1985; cf. also Albert 1983) how it would be possible to make a crucial experimental test of the Everett (‘many-universes’) interpretation of quantum theory by using a quantum computer (thus contradicting the widely held belief that it is not experimentally distinguishable from other interpretations). However, the performance of such experiments must await both the construction of quantum computers and the development of true artificial intelligence programs. In explaining the operation of quantum computers I have, where necessary, assumed Everett’s ontology. Of course the explanations could always be ‘translated’ into the conventional interpretation, but not without entirely losing their explanatory power. Suppose, for example, a quantum computer were programmed as in the Stock Exchange problem described. Each day it is given different data. The Everett interpretation explains well how the computer’s behaviour follows from its having delegated subtasks to copies of itself in other universes. On the days when the computer succeeds in performing two processor-days of computation, how would the conventional interpretations explain the presence of the correct answer? Where was it computed?

Another example of the bizarre relationship between math and physics

It has long been known that math seems to do an unusually good job of describing the physical world. Here is an example of a theory of physics being used to solve an abstract math problem.

It turns out that random matrix theory (RMT) methods used for predicting quantum energy levels of classically chaotic systems also predict all of the moments of the Riemann zeta function. This suggests a mysterious connection between prime numbers and quantum physics.

This is a summary of the findings from the University of Bristol Dept. of Mathematics page.

Tegmark's Parallel Universes article

This article on parallel universes is linked on a few sites I have previously listed, however I believe it is worthy of a direct link. Tegmark provides a good, uncomplicated overview of the different types, or levels, of possible parallel universes. Some or all of them may actually exist.

The first three levels of parallel universe are completely distinct from our universe, and get progressively strange (for lack of a better description) comparison to the universe we are in. For instance, level one is essentially just regions of our present universe that are beyond our light horizon. It is estimated that the region of our universe we can actually see is only a very small portion of the whole, however the actual size and shape of our universe is not established. Level two parallel universes represent other post-inflation bubbles; in other words other universes that may have resulted from the big bang and subsequent inflation. In these universes the fundamental physics would be the same but the constants would be different. Finally, the level three universes would have different fundamental physics.

Level four universes can be considered somewhat distinct from the first three, in that if the parallel universes of quantum mechanics exist they overlap and interact in a way the other levels do not. These universes would all share the laws of quantum mechanics.

The Theory of Nothing E-Book

Russell Standish is a frequent contributor to the Everything List, and recently put together a book that covered many of the most popular topics of discussion on the Everything List.

This book is an excellent overview of cutting edge ideas and theories pertaining to theories of everything (or nothing).

The Theory of Nothing

What is reality

Good site covering the "big questions" concerning the nature of reality.

What is reality?

Quantum physics, in an easy to understand summary

Series of posts from overcomingbias.com

Shut up and calculate

Tegmark advocates "an extreme 'shut-up-and-calculate' approach to physics, where our external physical reality is assumed to be purely mathematical."

School for futurists

Singularity University