Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos is a 2006 popular science book by Seth Lloyd, professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The book proposes that the Universe is a quantum computer (supercomputer), and advances in the understanding of physics may come from viewing entropy as a phenomenon of information, rather than simply thermodynamics.

"[1] Reviewer Corey S. Powell of The New York Times writes: In the space of 221 dense, frequently thrilling and occasionally exasperating pages, ... tackles computer logic, thermodynamics, chaos theory, complexity, quantum mechanics, cosmology, consciousness, sex and the origin of life—throwing in, for good measure, a heartbreaking afterword that repaints the significance of all that has come before.

Lloyd, a professor of mechanical engineering at M.I.T., takes as his topic the fundamental workings of the universe..., which he thinks has been horribly misunderstood.

Exploring big questions in accessible, comprehensive fashion, Lloyd's work is of vital importance to the general-science audience.