[Source](https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904050 "Permalink to [quant-ph/9904050] A Computer Scientist's View of Life, the Universe, and Everything") # [quant-ph/9904050] A Computer Scientist's View of Life, the Universe, and Everything ![][1] ![Cornell University][2] [Cornell University][3] [Library][4] [We gratefully acknowledge support from the Simons Foundation and member institutions][5] # [arXiv.org][6] > [quant-ph][7] > arXiv:quant-ph/9904050 All papers Titles Authors Abstracts Full text Help pages ([Help][8] | [Advanced search][9]) Full-text links: ## Download: * [PDF][10] * [PostScript][11] * [Other formats][12] ([license][13]) ### Current browse context: quant-ph < [prev][14] | [next >][15] [new][16] | [recent][7] | [9904][17] ### References & Citations * [INSPIRE HEP][18] ([refers to][19] | [cited by ][20]) * [NASA ADS][21] ### [2 blog links][22] ([what is this?][23]) ### Bookmark ([what is this?][24]) ![CiteULike logo][25] ![BibSonomy logo][26] ![Mendeley logo][27] ![del.icio.us logo][28] ![Digg logo][29] ![Reddit logo][30] ![ScienceWISE logo][31] # Quantum Physics # Title: A Computer Scientist's View of Life, the Universe, and Everything Authors: [Juergen Schmidhuber][32] (Submitted on 13 Apr 1999) > Abstract: Is the universe computable? If so, it may be much cheaper in terms of information requirements to compute all computable universes instead of just ours. I apply basic concepts of Kolmogorov complexity theory to the set of possible universes, and chat about perceived and true randomness, life, generalization, and learning in a given universe. | ----- | | Comments: | 9 pages, no figures | | Subjects: | Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Computational Complexity (cs.CC); Computers and Society (cs.CY); Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph); Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph) | | Journal reference: | In C. Freksa, ed., Foundations of Computer Science: Potential - Theory - Cognition, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp. 201-208, Springer, 1997 | | Cite as: | [arXiv:quant-ph/9904050][33] | |   | (or [arXiv:quant-ph/9904050v1][34] for this version) | ## Submission history From: Juergen Schmidhuber [[view email][35]] [**v1]** Tue, 13 Apr 1999 13:36:03 GMT (10kb) [Which authors of this paper are endorsers?][36] | [Disable MathJax][37] ([What is MathJax?][38]) Link back to: [arXiv][39], [form interface][40], [contact][41]. ![Twitter][42] [1]: //webanalytics.library.cornell.edu/piwik.php?idsite=538&rec=1 [2]: https://arxiv.org/icons/cu/cul_signature_unstyled.gif [3]: http://www.cornell.edu/ [4]: http://www.library.cornell.edu/ [5]: https://confluence.cornell.edu/x/ALlRF [6]: https://arxiv.org/ [7]: https://arxiv.org/list/quant-ph/recent [8]: https://arxiv.org/help [9]: https://arxiv.org/find [10]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/9904050 [11]: https://arxiv.org/ps/quant-ph/9904050 [12]: https://arxiv.org/format/quant-ph/9904050 [13]: http://arxiv.org/licenses/assumed-1991-2003/ "Rights to this article" [14]: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904049 "previous in quant-ph (accesskey p)" [15]: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904051 "next in quant-ph (accesskey n)" [16]: https://arxiv.org/list/quant-ph/new [17]: https://arxiv.org/list/quant-ph/9904 [18]: https://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+eprint+QUANT-PH/9904050 [19]: https://arxiv.org/refs/quant-ph/9904050 [20]: https://arxiv.org/cits/quant-ph/9904050 [21]: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?arXiv:quant-ph/9904050 [22]: https://arxiv.org/tb/quant-ph/9904050 [23]: https://arxiv.org/help/trackback/ [24]: https://arxiv.org/help/social_bookmarking [25]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/social/citeulike.png [26]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/social/bibsonomy.png [27]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/social/mendeley.png [28]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/social/delicious.png [29]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/social/digg.png [30]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/social/reddit.png [31]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/social/sciencewise.png [32]: https://arxiv.org/find/quant-ph/1/au:+Schmidhuber_J/0/1/0/all/0/1 [33]: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904050 [34]: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904050v1 [35]: https://arxiv.org/show-email/d5d6869b/quant-ph/9904050 [36]: http://arxiv.org/auth/show-endorsers/quant-ph/9904050 [37]: javascript:setMathjaxCookie%28%29() [38]: https://arxiv.org/help/mathjax/ [39]: http://arxiv.org/ [40]: https://arxiv.org/form [41]: https://arxiv.org/help/contact [42]: https://static.arxiv.org/icons/twitter_logo_blue.png "Follow arXiv on Twitter"