Meaning, information and the arrow of time:

Computer programs rule the world, but what is the meaning of such programs?

The Inaugural Lecture of Professor Pasquale Malacaria

Computer programs rule the world, but what is the meaning of such programs? For example, we accept that 2=1+1. But do the programs "x=2" and "x=1;x=x+x;" have the same meaning? And how can we measure the information that programs leak about data we want to keep secret? For instance, if someone tries their luck with your cash card at a cash machine, what can they learn about your pin number? And what does this have to do with the most fundamental laws of the physical universe? This lecture will explore these questions and more, and show some mathematical answers that can be provided by logic and information theory.

About Professor Malacaria:

Pasquale Malacaria, studied philosophy in Rome and did a PhD in mathematical logic in Paris. He then moved to London as an EPSRC research fellow at Imperial College and then became a lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. His broad research area is theoretical computer science and its applications to computer security. He has worked on logic, verification, information theory, and game theory.