Abstract
As early as 1981, John Archibald Wheeler presented a series of lectures at University of Science and Technology of China and discussed much of the idea later known as “it from bit”. I will review some of the highlights of his lectures. From a physics student listening to him then to a computer circuit designer now, I am also wondering about a more practical question, how to build such a machine or “universe” that its laws will be decided or contributed later by its participants? The ultimate challenges for computer designers today should not be limited to building machines to approach human intelligence, but also to pursue the deeper knowledge of what a computer really means. New breakthroughs are likely to happen at the boundaries between universality in information processing and its physical representation in universe and life.
Brian L Ji