Sab Maya Hai

In his blog titled “On Demand History”, Scott Adams says:
“I have a hypothesis that the past doesn't exist until an observation in the present makes it necessary. That seems the simplest form of a universe. And nature likes simplicity, right?”

Sure enough, one of his readers pointed him to this New York Times article titled “Is the Universe a Simulation?” Edward Frenkel starts with the “unreasonable effectiveness of maths” in describing our universe and says:
“One fanciful possibility is that we live in a computer simulation based on the laws of mathematics — not in what we commonly take to be the real world. According to this theory, some highly advanced computer programmer of the future has devised this simulation, and we are unknowingly part of it.”
But can this ever be tested? Professor Beane and his colleagues have found that that physicists’ own simulations of the universe tend to generate “certain kinds of asymmetries”. And the universe too has its own set of asymmetries, ergo… Frenkel leaves it by asking the reader:
“Are we prepared to take the “red pill,” as Neo did in “The Matrix,” to see the truth behind the illusion — to see “how deep the rabbit hole goes”?”

Of course, this is an ideal topic for Slashdotters and I was not disappointed! Shalian, someone sounding like he had programming knowledge asked:
“Some possible ways to determine if we're living in a simulation: Look for signs of optimizations/short cuts in the simulation:
Is there a maximum speed?
Is there a minimum size?
Is there a limit as to determining an object's position and momentum?”
StripedCow had another idea:
“Try to generate an overflow, or division by zero. What could possibly go wrong?"
What indeed? Apart from crashing the universe, that is!

And of course, if anything sounds weird, quantum mechanics will fit in perfectly. MobyDisk:
“Quantum physics seems to be the ultimate proof that the universe is a simulation...The universe, intuitively, seems to be analog and continuous. That "feels" right to us. But quantum physics shows that it is actually discrete. But that is exactly how computer simulations work!”

No wonder then that the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a number: 42! Never heard of the book? Try typing “the answer to life the universe and everything” into Google (without quotes or capitalization), and Google Calculator will give you 42!

Comments

  1. KumarApril 3, 2014 at 6:44 PM

    The implications of quantum physics initially shocked the scientists. They got used to its stunning law, namely, we have no way of independently measuring certain paired parameters with full accuracy on both (i.e. simultaneously) e.g. position and momentum. And, they also got used to the method of dealing with potential probabilities (that seem to have peculiar existence in some unfathomable domain beyond existential physical reality) - probabilities which turn into specific realities, if and only if you look to see what is happening. The scientists now accept fairly well this strange world of theirs.

    The interest seems to be catching on more and more with philosophers, who could be interested in (1) Nature which would imply that scientists themselves can jump into this pool of philosophy, to give expression to Nature's ways in philosophical terms, not necessarily scientific terms (2) Spirituality, which would imply a open domain for intellectual debates and free analysis. This however is strikingly a different domain from earlier-time Christianity's approach of theology, in which scope was rigidly restricted to existing Christian faith. That kind of approach dominated the Christian world after Christian mystics were sidelined due to their openness. The Church (i.e. the establishment) was not happy with it because that reduced their power. It so happens that the open-minded people of today (who could nevertheless be termed as people who are part of the regions of general Christian faith) are not averse to imbibing the concepts and the approaches of the Eastern religions, such as Buddhism, Vedantic Hinduism, Taoism etc. In these faiths, it actually becomes very easy to align with the peculiar status that Nature gets from the formal and precisely-defined science that is physics.

    Certainly today's protagonists of these religions welcome these science developments with full enthusiasm, because they believe that oneness of ideas between vastly domains of interest that dominate the serious human mind is not something to be surprised about - because we actually are integral in a limitless ocean of Oneness. These days I read more and more books on this theme.

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