While I'm on the subject of super computers I'll get this thought experiment off my chest:
Imagine that there's no free will. Every action or inaction on the planet (or system) is entirely predictable because every action or inaction is generated by calculating machines. These calculating machines are the atomic and molecular interactions of our brains, plant cells etc combined with other affects like gravitation, quantum interactions and the information contained in these states, e.g. a newspaper headline, the comedy of a moving film etc etc etc.
In this scenario it's possible to generate a computer (or future machine) that, when programmed with all the available information (a seemingly impossibly large data set including the positions and states of every subatomic particle in the system combined with the ultra complex plexus of information and meaning, e.g. a definition of sarcasm, or hunger) would be able to predict the future of the system with absolute accuracy.
In my opinion this kind of computer is impossible at our current level of human understanding, but in an incomprehensibly-advanced technological society who knows?!
Combine this idea with my other theory about the intelligent life in the universe (not actually my theory, but let's say I agree with Frank Drake - link) which estimates that civilisations have already existed and evolved over millions if not billions of years past our current level of civilisation. It's likely, therefore, that there is a "society" in the universe that has the technology to create this computer. If so then they must have programmed it with the requisite data set, including all the subatomic detail of the system - in this case the whole universe - and therefore all of the data relating to our planet will be in the computer already.
I don't think of this computer as a physical beige box sitting on some desk somewhere (imagine pressing the reset button by mistake!!). No, I imagine this as a computing system interlinked directly with the entire universe. It would be impossible to load the dataset in a timely manner otherwise. How the output of this "device" is extracted wouldn't be some printout either. It would be inextricably linked with the very fabric of space-time. I imagine, therefore, that this output can be picked up anywhere in the universe providing one has the correct output tool. I think that this tool already exists, however it's not some kind of multi meter. It is certainly immaterial and probably a form of energy unknown to humanity. At times we interact accidently and strangely with this tool and this perhaps explains why I get so confused with things in life!!
The fact that I'm writing this blog on a Sunday morning whilst sitting in my dressing gown in front of the television showing Dora The Explorer (link) in a small town in the East Midlands of the land we call England has been predicted and analysed by some computer perhaps lightyears away from here, perhaps millions of years ago. Kinda spooky! It would also know what I am going to do next and could almost be considered universally omnipotent. There is a link to spirituality here, but I'll save that for another post, although considering that my future is already planned and predicted is there any point? If there's any other post to this blog then consider it a miracle of free will against fate!
The most interesting thing about this idea (and the mind-splitting implications) is that I believe it to be an inevitable consequence of current science.
Sideline question: at what point can a future machine give a useful output without knowing the whole data set? For example, can this computer produce an output of the future with just the knowledge of where every human being is located at a given time combined with an extensive profile of every human?
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