Talk:Bremermann's limit

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[edit] References

• authoritative?
• more impressive
• [1]

[edit] ~1.35×10⁴⁷ bit/s/g

No closed computer system, however constructed, can have an internal signal flow that exceeds mc²/h bits per second (here m is the total mass of the system, c the velocity of light in vacuum, and h is Planck's constant)...the numerical value of c²/h is 1.35×10⁴⁷ (bits per second per gram)

Italics are per original source, namely p172 of "Complexity and Transcomputability", Hans J. Bremerman, in The Encyclopedia of Ignorance, edited by Ronald Duncan and Miranda Weston-Smith, 1977, Pergamon Press (reprinted by Wallaby/Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster/Gulf & Western 1978), p167-174. Author cites derivations in the following articles:

• "A basic limitation of the speed of digital computers, W. W. Bledsoe, IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers, EC-10, 530, 1961
• "Part 1: Limitations on Data Processing Arising from Quantum Theory", in "Optimization Through Evolution and Recombination", H. Bremermanm, in Self Organizing Systems, edited by M. C. Yovits, G. T. Jacobi, and G. D. Goldstein, Spartan Books, 1962
• an "improved argument" in "Quantum Noise and Information", H. Bremermann, Proceedings of the Fifth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability, University of California Bress, 1967
• "planned for publication" article: "Evolution and Optimization", in Biomathematics Lecture Note Series, 1978, Springer-Verlag

All those references seem noteworthy to me, though I'd like to verify the 1978 article.

Typing the string c^2/h into Google yields 1.35639293 × 10⁵⁰ kg^-1 s^-1. If no dissent I will modify the article when I get around to it. --munge 07:58, 25 December 2006 (UTC)