Synchronicities

If you've ever read any Robert Anton Wilson or Alistair Crowley or occult conspiracy material, you will have heard of the particular place the number 23 holds in reality. Or if you haven't been exposed to 23's ubiquity then I refer you to the recent Jim Carey thriller, The Number 23. Well, the simplest universal program (universal computer) was proved to be a 2-3 Turing machine about a month ago! A 2-3 Universal Turing machine is like cellular automata with two states and three colors, and contains every pattern possible. A 7-state, 4-color machine from 1962 held the record until now. Proved in 20 pages by a 20 year old, it was an historic breakthrough in mathematics and the info-sciences (more info below). So, relax all you 23ers, you were right. No matter how hard you try, you will never stop seeing 23s EVERYWHERE!!
In celebration, watch this strange short film!
(seriously, watch this film, it's wild.)


More info on the universal computer:
New Scientist
Stephen Wolfram's blog