Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation

[Turknology]

Miracles take a little time

[sidney_jec]

what is miracle today is common sense tomorrow

[Marbur66]

This is a crazy proposition. Interesting though...

[Fallout]

Finally! The atheism will be disproved.

[FREKI]

Might as well claim that the universe is the dream of a dog... if anything quantum mechanics is a sign that the universe is not a simulation.. if you just want to simulate the universe you don't need more than the 4 dimensions.. and then there's of course the dark flow tugging from beyond the borders of our universe..

[Dmerdude]

Originally Posted by FREKI

Might as well claim that the universe is the dream of a dog... if anything quantum mechanics is a sign that the universe is not a simulation.. if you just want to simulate the universe you don't need more than the 4 dimensions.. and then there's of course the dark flow tugging from beyond the borders of our universe..

News articles usually misrepresent scientific studies; I'm sure the actual article is more nuanced.

[koolio]

The basic premise that the universe might be a simulation is indeed a serious possibility that many physicists have pondered. So far, the reason why there has been limited research into this is because not many people have been able to come up with any methods to prove or disprove any implications of this theory. As our ability to simulate complex environments continues to improve, maybe we'll gain more insight into this subject.

[Fallout]

Originally Posted by FREKI

Might as well claim that the universe is the dream of a dog... if anything quantum mechanics is a sign that the universe is not a simulation.. if you just want to simulate the universe you don't need more than the 4 dimensions.. and then there's of course the dark flow tugging from beyond the borders of our universe..

I like how you always use that pseudo-scientific babble in religion and science discussions.

[koolio]

I must admit that it is not at all obvious as to how quantum mechanics rules out the possibility of a simulated universe. Considering how these days the subject is taught to even lowly undergrads (I took it two years ago), I suspect the physicists engaged in this project are fairly well versed within the field of quantum mechanics.

[brightside.]

Originally Posted by Fallout

I like how you always use that pseudo-scientific babble in religion and science discussions.

Pretty much everyone does in such discussions. Nobody here knows the science/math behind what they actually do

[FREKI]

Originally Posted by Fallout

I like how you always use that pseudo-scientific babble in religion and science discussions.

Reality can be a bitch

[Iskandar]

Originally Posted by FREKI

Might as well claim that the universe is the dream of a dog... if anything quantum mechanics is a sign that the universe is not a simulation.. if you just want to simulate the universe you don't need more than the 4 dimensions.. and then there's of course the dark flow tugging from beyond the borders of our universe..

Why would you say so? First of all I don't claim to know anything about quantum physics. So i'm just speaking rationally here. However if the ultimate goal of theoretical physics is to reduce all the matter and phenomena (including all the dimensions) into a single "thing", and to explain it with this, then that would surely suffice for a simulation.

All that would be needed to do would be to simulate the properties of the most basic and fundamental constituent of the universe (I have heard of strings?). All the different dimensions, "dark flows", other multiple universes and any other phenomenon that we can imagine, may simply stem from the properties of this thing existing. Surely..

[_BPS_]

It is a simulation without a doubt.

[FREKI]

Originally Posted by Iskandar

Why would you say so? First of all I don't claim to know anything about quantum physics. So i'm just speaking rationally here. However if the ultimate goal of theoretical physics is to reduce all the matter and phenomena (including all the dimensions) into a single "thing", and to explain it with this, then that would surely suffice for a simulation.

Think of it like this, if you need to add a colour value to a digital object ( lets say black ) you would pick that colour value, not trillions of colours mixed for that result..


In the world of philosophy where this simulation belongs there could be unlimited computing power from our perspective and thus everything could be a simulation in theory, but when looking on it with sceptical eyes there's so many unessesary calculations in even the smallest particle..

The Higgs mechanism is the perfect example - here we have something so CPU intensive to do something so simple - as a natural effect it happens automatically as there is only one natural outcome, but in a simulation it makes even an atom so CPU intensive it's unlikely the entire planets computer force could render the effect real time and that's a fraction of a visible object ( a grain of sand will have around 78.000.000.000.000.000.000 atoms all needing constant processing that again needs to be calculated trough it's movement in spacetime not to mention it's interaction with nearby objects all with their own gravitational fields and electromagnetic radiation ect ect ect )

If I rolled a glass marble down the street on a sunny day natural effects will happen instantly - think of the reflections trough the marble differing from every possible angle - as a result of the laws of physics and quantum mechanics it's the only outcome possible for the photons bouncing around, just as it is for any other particle - no GPU or CPU stress just cause and effect.. try rendering that right down to smallest level of quantum physics and it becomes a processor intensive nightmare just the visuals passing trough the glass not to mention every little string in action in multiple dimensions and then look at the universe and scale of it - so many things happening at various points at various times - the stress on the processor/s would never be at one level but fluctuate greatly and be bound to cause lag..

And we now know space-time itself also have mass so we are left with more subatomic particles troughout the universe than all the servers and hardrives on Earth can ever be able to store in the form of .s - and that brings us to something interesting as when even the smallest . takes up physiclal space on a harddrive the computer nedded to render the universe would very likely be larger than our solar system just to be able to physically store the data...


So as far as philosophy it's an interesting thought, but from a realistic perspective it wouldn't make any sense to render the universe the way we can see it is.. So as such a dog's dream is the more likely scenario as at least there you can have conciousness and all you don't see or feel doesn't have to be "rendered"..

[AltinD]

I'm sure 19th Century traders wouldn't comprehend if one has to say them, one day one can go from Europe to the Americas in just 3 hours.

Now instead of a 100 years progress, imagine, let say 100 Billion ... or ok, 10 Billion years

[FREKI]

Originally Posted by AltinD

I'm sure 19th Century traders wouldn't comprehend if one has to say them, one day one can go from Europe to the Americas in just 3 hours.

Now instead of a 100 years progress, imagine, let say 100 Billion ... or ok, 10 Billion years

Advancement in technology doesn't change the physics we live under..

There is absolutely no doubt that advances in technology will bring better simulation rendering, but the scale of the universe on a subatomic level is math on a scaleit seems few understand..


On average in the universe a kg of matter will have around 10^26 atoms.. Of 3 subparticles each that again is made up of 3 quacks ect ect...

So your average milk has at least 9000000000000000000000000000 parts that needs rendering based on temperature, space-time location, interaction, gravity, velocity ect ect..

[CanadianDemon]

Originally Posted by FREKI

Advancement in technology doesn't change the physics we live under..There is absolutely no doubt that advances in technology will bring better simulation rendering, but the scale of the universe on a subatomic level is math on a scaleit seems few understand..

It acutally can.

[FREKI]

Originally Posted by CanadianDemon

It acutally can.

Please do explain how..

[Turknology]

we will find out next Friday

[dars-dm]

What if our Universe was created billions of years ago (or billions of years ahead) by us when we started the program, i. e. the Universe is Escher-like?