Smart Spacetime: How information challenges our ideas about space, time, and process

by Mark Burgess

`The err is human, to explain is [Mark Burgess]'
--Patrick Debois

`One of the best reads and written by one of the best minds!'
--Glenn O'Donnell (about In Search of Certainty)

What if space is not like we learn in mathematics,but more like a network?
What happens to the ability to measure things as you shrink or expand?

Since Einstein, space and time were the province of theoretical physicists and science fiction writers, but today they are of equal importance in Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and even Biology. This book tells a new and radical story of space and time, rooted in fundamental physics but going beyond to underpin some of the biggest questions in science and technology.

This is a book about physics, it's about computers, artificial intelligence, and many other topics on surface. It's about everything that has to do with information. It draws on examples from every avenue of life, and pulls apart preconceptions that have been programmed into us from childhood. It re-examines ideas like distance,time, and speed, and asks if we really know what those things are. If they are really so fundamental and universal concepts then can we also see them and use them in computers, or in the growing of a plant? Conversely, can we see phenomena we know from computers in physics? We can learn a lot by comparing the way we describe physics with the way we describe computers---and that throws up a radical the concept of virtualization , and what it might mean for physics.

`I think that it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that [Mark Burgess] is the closest thing to Richard Feynman within our industry'
--Cameron Haight

`...magnificent; a tour de force of connecting the dots of many disciplines... Mark’s combination of originality, synthesis and practicality knows no equal.'
--Paul Borrill

828 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 5, 2019

About the author

Mark Burgess is a writer with many interests. His books span from fiction to hard science, and he actively writes philosphically in his blog about all aspects of modern information culture. He is an active public speaker on the international conference circuit, and is engaged in promoting science to a wide audience.

He is the Founder and original author of CFEngine. He was senior lecturer and then appointed full professor of Network and System Administration at Oslo University College from 1994-2011. He was the first professor with this title, and is largely responsible for defining the field. Mark Burgess obtained a PhD in Theoretical Physics at Newcastle University, for which he received the Runcorn Prize.

Reviews

[Mark Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird how I can review my own book here?! :-) But what can I say? This is something of a labour of love - a difficult book to write, and to read I expect. Most of the typos are hopefully corrected from the Early Release edition, and I look forward to comments.

[Iron B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives me great insights on scales and processes in our world.

[JL · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, how can you rate your own book a 5? Secondly, the paperback edition is riddled with editing errors - punctuation, grammar, misplaced or extra words. Sloppy. Thirdly, I didn't get it, the whole book. Obviously, I am not versant in Promise Theory and whatever else the author was promising. Didn't help me understand anything about space or time.

[Alain van Hoof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I read a "Mark Burgess" i'm wondering how to apply his insights in the real world, this time I also had an other feeling: "I need to read this book again".