“To be or not to be” was a big question for Hamlet. Now it behooves us to ask the same one about The Simulation. Our minds have developed far enough to accept the possibility that we, in fact, live in a computer-generated alternative reality, akin to a video game or what we see in the famed cult movie, The Matrix.
Man has long postulated about the nature of reality from the ancient Greeks to the present day. It has lately taken a more sci-fi turn, however. Is it the stuff of fantasy and imagination, or a reality we never knew existed. Do physical laws apply? Is it part of the vast universe, including dark energy?
Many interested in Simulation Creationism want to know if there is an infinite number of multiverses or is there but a one-time ultimate simulation. For Nir Ziso of The Global Architect Institute, the answer is yes and no. The Simulation exists as the creation of God. There could be more waiting in the wings. It is up to God to decide.
Meanwhile, there is some fine tuning going on of the Simulation Hypothesis and The Simulation itself. Information physics, for example, is busy suggesting that space-time and matter are no longer fundamental phenomena. Surely, this shocks traditional scientists.
Now physical reality is said to consist of bits of information from which the human experience of space-time emerges. It smacks of a computerized AI virtual reality, right? Indeed, our lives go on within a computer simulation. The good news is that for Nir Ziso, there is God and even a role for Jesus Christ.
Where did this idea start? In 1989, John Archibald Wheeler, a physicist, saw the mathematical nature of the universe and coined the aphorism, “it from bit.” A bit (pun intended) later, we see Nick Bostrom entering the picture. This Oxford University philosopher jumped on the computer simulation bandwagon. It is likely that mankind lives in The Simulation, he wrote. It was back in 2003 when he saw fit to offer the hypothesis that an advanced civilization had sufficient technology to fabricate a simulation indistinguishable from reality. Of note, those dwelling within would not be aware of being in The Simulation.
New adherents to the Simulation Hypothesis are now entering the theoretical fray. Seth Lloyd, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggested that the entire universe could be a giant quantum computer. He clearly took the existing theory to another level. And in 2016, Elon Musk concluded that “We’re most likely in a simulation”. These are great minds and we must pay heed to their foresight.
Empirical evidence
Evidence abounds that The Simulation is real and based on computer processing at an advanced level. As such it would have to be digitized into “bits”. We are in the territory of quantum mechanics here, which of course is behind everything at the particle level. What are we to make of this “evidence”. Well, it exists at the atomic level. The universe remains build of matter in small units. As such, it is actually pixelated.
Who doesn’t accept the laws of physics that govern the universe? Are they not akin to computer code? The Simulation is build on code, mathematical equations, and geometric patterns; we can see this everywhere we look. We have lived long enough with the magic of computers to lend credibility to Simulation Creationism.
Other evidence concerns the speed limit in the universe, aka the speed of light. What happens in a virtual world? The limit would depend upon the computer processor and its inherent power. It can be slowed down such as occurs in the theory of general relativity postulated by Albert Einstein. (This happens near a black hole.)
Some real supportive evidence comes from quantum mechanics, which suggests that nature isn’t made up of “real” particles in determined locations. Nothing exists without observation and measurement. In Simulation theory, the “observer” is running the program.
What happens when two particles entangle or are otherwise spookily connected? If you manipulate one, per quantum mechanics, you are also manipulated the other, whatever their location. It happens faster than the speed of light. Is that even possible? There is an explanation. In a virtual reality code, the points or “locations” are roughly equal from the central supercomputer. We usually think of particles as being millions of light years part, but this is not the case in The Simulation, believe it or not.
Experiments tell the tale
Okay, the universe might be a simulation. Now, how do we test the Simulation Hypothesis? We can conduct scientific experiments as we do for the other big questions in the realm of physics. We would be seeking information bits that tell the tale.
Take the mass-energy-information (M/E/I) equivalence principle, a rather new theory. It says that a small mass gives us something to search for, not to mention its information content. In 2022 appeared an experimental protocol to test researchers’ predictions.
The “experiment” erased the information inside elementary particles. The technical explanation is that they let them and their antiparticles annihilate. It happened in a flash of energy that emitted protons (light particles). This is what information physics is all about. Such experiments are real and plausible in every aspect. The outcomes can be predicted, including the expected frequencies of the photons.
Other physicists have adopted a different approach. The late John Barrow argued that The Simulation would build up minor computational errors. Of course, the “programmer” would need to fix things like contradictory experimental results appearing suddenly – such as the changing constants of nature. These constants can be monitored.
In the end, we have to admit that the nature of “reality” is the greatest mystery for mankind. The more we accept the Simulation Hypothesis, the greater the chances that we may prove it.
