2010-07-22, by John Ringland
See the original and other answers at
http://www.quora.com/Is-the-universe-a-simulation
At the bottom of this page there are also
some other answers and my comments on them.
I will not attempt to answer this question here, but merely
provide some links to instances where the idea has been discussed.
This idea is becoming increasingly popular within the scientific
debate because it provides an explanatory framework that allows us to
comprehend quantum phenomena that were previously incomprehensible...
Whilst it is impossible to comprehend the quantum mechanical
description of the universe in terms of 'physical' phenomena, at the
same time we are finding that thinking in terms of information
processes allows us to understand quantum phenomena, not as something
bizarre and paradoxical, but as the natural & necessary
properties of a simulated virtual reality.
Simulated reality – Wikipedia http://bit.ly/cecMCS
Simulated reality is the proposition
that reality could be simulated—often computer simulated—to a
degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could
contain conscious minds which may or may not know that they are
living inside a simulation. In its strongest form, the "simulation
hypothesis" claims it is probable that we are actually living in
such a simulation. This is different from the current,
technologically achievable concept of virtual reality. Virtual
reality is easily distinguished from the experience of "true"
reality; participants are never in doubt about the nature of what
they experience. Simulated reality, by contrast, would be hard or
impossible to distinguish from "true" reality. The idea
of a simulated reality raises several questions:
Is it possible, even in principle, to tell whether we are in
a simulated reality?
Is there any difference between a simulated reality and a
"real" one?
How should we behave if we knew that we were living in a
simulated reality?
Digital Physics – Wikipedia http://bit.ly/cX4wQJ
In physics and cosmology, digital
physics is a collection of theoretical perspectives based on the
premise that the universe is, at heart, describable by information,
and is therefore computable. Therefore , the universe can be
conceived as either the output of a computer program or as a vast,
digital computation device (or, at least, mathematically isomorphic
to such a device). Digital physics is grounded in one or more of
the following hypotheses, listed in order of increasing boldness. The
universe, or reality, is:
Essentially informational (although not every informational
ontology need be digital);
Essentially digital;
Itself a colossal computer;
The output of a simulated reality exercise.
Ross Rhodes http://bit.ly/akhqh6
Quotes from “A Cybernetic
Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics", which explores the
parallels between quantum mechanics and the properties of a virtual
reality. "Many of the phenomena observed in the laboratory
are puzzling because they are difficult to conceptualize as physical
phenomena, yet they can be modeled exactly by mathematical
manipulations. When we analogize to the operations of a digital
computer, these same phenomena can be understood as logical and, in
some cases, necessary features of computer programming designed to
produce a virtual reality simulation" (Ross Rhodes)
Edwin Fredkin http://bit.ly/arxLrg
Finite Nature Hypothesis of Edwin
Fredkin, which proposes that reality is finite and discrete in all
ways and that there exists an iterative cellular automata
computational process that underlies, manifests and 'computes' the
phenomenon of existence.
Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe CTMU
http://bit.ly/aTEvNp
The Cognitive Theoretic Model of the
Universe proposes that the universe is an 'utterance' within an
abstract virtual-reality generative grammar.
Process Physics http://bit.ly/dwnvQW
proposes that reality is a
self-referential information process producing fractal topological
defects that form space and time.
Digital Philosophy http://bit.ly/9RDKx4
Digital Philosophy (DP) is a new way
of thinking about the fundamental workings of processes in nature. DP
is an atomic theory carried to a logical extreme where all quantities
in nature are finite and discrete. Further, DP implies that nature
harbors no infinities, infinitesimals, continuities, or locally
determined random variables. At the most fundamental levels of
physics, DP implies a totally discrete process called Digital
Mechanics. Digital Mechanics (DM) must be a substrate for Quantum
Mechanics.
Zuse's Thesis: The Universe is a Computer http://bit.ly/cNc5An
Konrad Zuse (1910-1995; pronounce:
"Conrud Tsoosay") not only built the first programmable
computers (1935-1941) and devised the first higher-level programming
language (1945), but also was the first to suggest (in 1967) that the
entire universe is being computed on a computer, possibly a cellular
automaton (CA). He referred to this as "Rechnender Raum" or
Computing Space or Computing Cosmos. Many years later similar ideas
were also published / popularized / extended by Edward Fredkin
(1980s), Jürgen Schmidhuber (1990s - see overview), and more
recently Stephen Wolfram (2002) (see comments and Edwin Clark's
review page )
Jürgen Schmidhuber's Computable Universes & Algorithmic
Theory of Everything http://bit.ly/bgDcvZ
Various articles exploring the issue:
Is our universe just the output of a deterministic computer program?
System Science of Virtual Reality: Toward the Unification of
Empirical and Subjective Science http://bit.ly/9XhElB
A book that describes the core
mathematical and conceptual principles of information system theory,
virtual reality and a re-derivation of quantum mechanics. Also
discusses naïve realism and the hard problem of consciousness.
Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science http://bit.ly/9feS4u
(read online)
This long-awaited work from one of the
world's most respected scientists presents a series of dramatic
discoveries never before made public. Starting from a collection of
simple computer experiments--illustrated in the book by striking
computer graphics--Stephen Wolfram shows how their unexpected results
force a whole new way of looking at the operation of our universe.
Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental
problems in science, from the origins of apparent randomness in
physical systems, to the development of complexity in biology, the
ultimate scope and limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a
truly fundamental theory of physics, the interplay between free will
and determinism, and the character of intelligence in the universe.
In this book he advances the hypothesis that the universe and
everything is being computed by a simple program.
A review of “A New Kind of Science” http://bit.ly/ayPmdi
Wolfram claims in his book that the
universe and everything is being computed by a simple program. This
review illustrates that this idea is certainly not new to science,
and it gives links to the prior work of Zuse.
God Is the Machine – Article on Wired http://bit.ly/9KIRIj
In the beginning there was 0 and then
there was 1. A mind-bending meditation on the transcendent power of
digital computation.
John Wheeler “It from bit” google search
http://bit.ly/aEjjxL
Anton Zeilinger – Quantum Centenial http://bit.ly/aMuYmd
"we are gaining new insight into
quantum mechanics itself by viewing it as an advanced theory of
information."
Many quotes from scientific sources related to this issue
http://bit.ly/bi9sc5
"Quantum theory is a method of representing quantumstuff
mathematically: a model of the world executed in symbols." (N.
Herbert)
"In contrast to the mechanistic Cartesian view of the
world, the world-view emerging from modern physics can be
characterized by words like organic, holistic, and ecological. It
might also be called a systems view, in the sense of general systems
theory. The universe is no longer seen as a machine, made up of a
multitude of objects, but has to be pictured as one indivisible
dynamic whole whose parts are essentially interrelated and can be
understood only as patterns of a cosmic process." (Fritjof
Capra)
"The process metaphysics elaborated in Process and
Reality (Whitehead) proposes that the fundamental elements of the
universe are occasions of experience. According to this notion, what
people commonly think of as concrete objects are actually
successions of occasions of experience. Occasions of experience can
be collected into groupings; something complex such as a human being
is thus a grouping of many smaller occasions of experience.
According to Whitehead, everything in the universe is characterized
by experience (which is not to be confused with consciousness);
there is no mind-body duality under this system, because "mind"
is simply seen as a very developed kind of experiencing."
(Process Philosophy)
Epistemological Problems of Perception (Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy) http://bit.ly/aZcY7T
The historically most central
epistemological issue concerning perception, to which this article
will be almost entirely devoted, is whether and how beliefs about
physical objects and about the physical world generally can be
justified or warranted on the basis of sensory or perceptual
experience — where it is internalist justification, roughly having
a reason to think that the belief in question is true, that is mainly
in question. This issue, commonly referred to as “the problem of
the external world,” divides into two closely related sub-issues,
which correspond to the first two main sections below. The first of
these issues has to do with the nature of sensory experience and its
relation to the physical world; it is typically formulated as the
question of what are the immediate objects of awareness in sensory
experience or, in a variant but essentially equivalent terminology,
of what is given in such experience. The second issue has to do with
the way in which beliefs about the physical world are justified on
the basis of such sensory experience.
The Scientific Case Against Materialism http://bit.ly/9uDhXt
A story told through quotes, comments
and links related to common sense (naive) realism, epistemology,
materialism, information theoretic metaphysics, consciousness,
empirical science, mysticism, holistic science and also system
theory. There's some fascinating links to profound experiments into
the nature of consciousness if you don't already know about them...
(The PEAR REG/GCP experiments)
Metaphysics of Virtual Reality http://bit.ly/9Z12Ch
If a computer creates a virtual
reality within which artificially intelligent beings contemplate
their situation, how would such a world seem to them? What
metaphysical concepts would they arive at? What would it be like to
be an AI being in a virtual world? I propose this hypothetical
situation as an adjunct to direct metaphysical discussion regarding
our reality. It provides a neatly defined context for analysis that
has some interesting parallels with our own context.
Computational Paradigm http://bit.ly/9Ktr5d
Computation is a fundamental
principle, it is not simply a high level phenomenon that electronic
computers engage in. Because information is discernible
difference and the difference relies upon discernment to become
information, the act of perception is inherently implied within the
very concept of information. From out of a field of variation a
perceptual system recognises certain variations, which become
information that informs the system and the remainder becomes
entropy, which still effects the system although in subtler ways such
as noise or heat. Information is one of the most abstract and general
substances that there is; but the concept of information is
meaningless without the concept of perception (i.e. the receipt,
interpretation, experience and assimilation of information).
Perception is an inherently computational process so computation is
itself fundamental.
Cartesian Dualism and an Information Theoretic Metaphysics
http://bit.ly/b6ZiWi
Cartesian dualism has been much abused
as a concept but it does contain some truth, that systems have a
distinct inner and outer aspect. The misuse arises because we only
ever experience ourselves from within and external objects from
without, hence our limited experience led people to postulate that
they were "alive and conscious" whereas external objects
were "inanimate". Materialism or Cartesian dualism proposes
that the inner and outer aspects are separated, but this is true only
from a perspective embedded within the simulation. ALL manifest
systems have both inner and outer aspects, there are no purely inner
or conscious entities and no purely outer or inanimate entities, all
have both aspects.
Contexts of Understanding http://bit.ly/dyIUrk
In relation to any 'reality' there are
always two apparent contexts. A few examples are that one cannot have
a story without a book being read, or a movie without a movie reel in
a projector, or a virtual reality without a computational process. In
each of these examples the first is an empirical context (objects,
places and events) and the second is a transcendent context (that
which creates and sustains the empirical context).
Mathematical Analysis http://bit.ly/dvGAE7
Mathematical analyses of various
aspects of general systems, general information processes, virtual
reality simulation and virtual universes.
There are many other instances, however these links provide a
starting point from which to explore further.
Whilst the metaphor of “simulation by computers” is very
modern, the underlying ideas have been proposed for many thousands of
years using various metaphors. This has not gone unnoticed by some
scientists...
"The concepts of science show
strong similarities to the concepts of the mystics... The philosophy
of mystical traditions, the perennial philosophy, is the most
consistent philosophical background to modern science." (Fritjof
Capra)
The underlying idea is that there exists non-physical processes
that permeate the physical realm and that have not only a causative
role, but also a formative and animating role. Thus the innermost
animating essence within ourselves (pure awareness) is the cosmic
process that animates all things.
For example, in Vedanta the metaphor of a snake and a rope has
been used. The point of this metaphor is that the rope only seems to
become a snake due to our interpretations, it doesn't actually turn
into a snake. Thus the snake is a virtual phenomenon. They further
claim that the universe is likewise a virtual phenomenon.
Quotes from Ancient sources related to this issue
http://bit.ly/cRfBHP
"To Sankara the world is only relatively real
(Vyavaharika Satta). He advocated Vivarta-Vada [virtuality] or the
theory of appearance or superimposition (Adhyasa). Just as snake is
superimposed on the rope in twilight [when one mistakes a rope for a
snake], this world and body are superimposed on Brahman or the
Supreme Self [computational process]... In Vivarta-Vada, the cause
produces the effect without undergoing any change in itself. Snake
is only an appearance on the rope. The rope has not transformed
itself into a snake, like milk into curd. Brahman is immutable and
eternal. Therefore, It cannot change Itself into the world. Brahman
becomes the cause of the world through Maya, which is Its
inscrutable mysterious power [virtual reality simulation]..."
(Sankaracharya)
"Wisdom is eternal, for it precedes every beginning and
all created reality... [It is] everywhere... in every tastable
thing... burning in all things... the animating power of things...
[Wisdom] tastes us. And there is nothing more delicious to
comprehend." (Nicholas of Cusa)
“I have often said God is creating this entire world full
and entire in this present now... There where time never penetrates,
where no image shines in, in the innermost and highest aspect of the
soul God creates the entire cosmos.” (Meister Eckhart)
“He who sees the Supreme Lord [transcendent process], who
is present equally in all creatures, who is not destroyed even when
they are, he may be said to have truly perceived. Perceiving the
Lord as equally pervading everywhere, he does not let his self-sense
[egoic delusion] destroy his true Self [awareness of ones
transcendent nature] and, in that way, he attains a state of
excellence [true understanding and alignment with reality]. He who
perceives that all aspects of actions are performed only through
prakriti and also that the self is a non-doer [universal
consciousness is the only doer], he may be said to have truly
perceived. On perceiving that the multifarious aspect of things is
located in one point [the transcendent process], from where it
extends severally, he attains the Brahman [union with
reality]. Without beginning, devoid of qualities, the Supreme
Self, imperishable, though stationed in the body, neither acts nor
is touched in any way... Just as ether, pervading everything, is
unsmeared on account of its rarefied nature, in the same way the
Self, present in everybody, is not besmirched. Just as the Sun,
alone, lights up this entire world, so also does the Keeper of the
field light up this entire field... those who in this way, through
the eye of wisdom, perceive the difference between the field and the
one who knows it, and the manner of release of all beings from
prakriti [overcoming the world illusion through detachment,
transcendent knowledge and unconditioned awareness], they obtain the
Supreme." (Bhagavad Gita, chpt 13)
"The real does not die, the unreal never lived. Once you
know that death happens to the body and not to you, you just watch
your body falling off like a discarded garment. The real you is
timeless and beyond birth and death." (Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj)
"What is it that had birth? Whom do you call a human
being? If, instead of seeking explanations for birth, death and
after-death, the question is raised as to who and how you are now,
these questions will not arise... The realised one enjoys unbroken
consciousness, never broken by birth or death - how can he die?..
There is no incarnation, either now, before or hereafter." (Sri
Ramana Maharshi)
"That which is the subtle essence, in it is the self of
all that exists. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou... art
it." (Chandogya Upanishad 4:10:1-3)
Correspondences with other Metaphysical Paradigms
http://bit.ly/cxZZGn
Quotes showing correspondence between
the computational metaphysical paradigm and several ancient
metaphysical paradigms.
A Survey of the Transcendent Perspective in Ancient Traditions
http://bit.ly/aPRm48
Quotes illustrating metaphors for the
transcendent computational process underlying the manifest universe.
Consciousness, Self, World, Virtual Reality and Liberation
http://bit.ly/a6QN3g
Also see my answer to the question What
is consciousness? , which provides further background required in
order to understand how it is that the universe may be virtual, yet
still seem physical.
All of this shows that there is a long history to these ideas,
that there are a growing number who are seriously contemplating them
and that the implications are subtle, deep and profound.
This simple idea may also provide a cognitive structure with which
to integrate knowledge derived from both quantum mechanics and mystic
insight, thus potentially bringing an end to thousands of years of
cognitive repression.
The following quote from the article "Cognitive repression in
contemporary physics" by Evelyn Fox Keller (1979)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.11911
addresses the issue of quantum mechanics within science, but it also
applies equally to mysticism in general society.
"Piaget has invited the
comparison between the historical development of scientific thought
and the cognitive development of the child. Both, it is suggested,
proceed through the emergence of discrete stages of structural
organization, each stage brings with it new possibilities of
conceptual integration, and concurrently, the possibility of a verbal
articulation of the new level of organization perceived. Prior to the
establishment of a new conceptual structure, knowledge already
present in nonverbal forms (in e.g., sensorimotor rather than
representation schemes) finds no avenue of expression, and, to the
extent that it jars with the earlier established structures, demands
cognitive repression. Piaget [1] tells us that an action schema which
"cannot be integrated into the system of conscious concepts is
eliminated... (and) repressed from conscious territory before it has
penetrated there in any conceptualized form." Caught in a
transition between stages, the child, when pressed to articulate
perceptions requiring cognitive structures which are not yet
available, displays confusion, denial and avoidance - a
disequilibrium strikingly reminiscent of the mechanism of affective
repression."
With the end of this irrational (but understandable) repression of
the issue, now society may be able to rationally explore this issue
and even develop a mathematical science that explains it in detail.
For example, see System Science of Virtual Reality: Toward the
Unification of Empirical and Subjective Science http://bit.ly/9XhElB
Finally, regarding "Is the universe a simulation in someone's
computer?" I would answer "No!". There is no need to
hypothesise the existence of some physical computer underlying the
cosmic computational processes. Information and computation are
fundamental and give rise to all other phenomena; space, time,
energy, force, particles, planets, people, etc. All of this is
computational and virtual, thus there need not be a single speck of
matter involved at any stage.
"When you come to the ultimate
particles constituting matter, there seems to be no point in thinking
of them again as consisting of some material. They are as it were,
pure shape, nothing but shape; what turns up again and again in
successive observations is this shape, not an individual speck of
material." (Erwin Schrödinger)
I always remember this scene from
Woody Allen's September when trying to explain/understand the
universe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW-drCJhqSE
I commented:
Thanks Federico :) That's a great
presentation of how things seem from an empirical perspective;
"haphazard, morally neutral and unimaginably violent."
However, if one also includes the
subjective perspective, these things still exist but they are known
in a broader context, thus the overall situation can seem very
different!
To explain what I mean by this, my
answer to the question What
is consciousness? briefly comments on first the empirical and
then the subjective perspectives on reality...
Seb
Paquet answered this question saying:
I don't know if it is, but I've found
that behaving as though it indeed is often pushes me to enjoy more
the experience of being in it. (Does that make any sense?)
Glistening
Deepwater commented:
it makes sense, when we are not
identified as separate and individual, but aware that we are an
integral part of a process which is unfolding, then it is much more
enjoyable!
I (John Ringland)
then commented:
Yeah :)
That perspective can really transform ones whole understanding of,
and relationship to, both ones self and ones world.
What it means to me is that the innermost sense of "I am"
that I can know within myself is common to all forms and phenomena,
not just other sentient beings. In philosophy thus is called
pan-psychism (or pan-proto-experientialism or Russellian monism or
type F monism).
This means that the entire universe is an animated, unified,
cosmic process! Although systems manifest at different levels of
complexity, nevertheless, they all have this innermost spark of "I
am". And not just separately as individuals, but collectively as
a whole.
This "I am" is a stream of awareness, sometimes simple
like computation or particle interactions, and sometimes complex like
sentience.
From this perspective one also realises that the external physical
universe is not at all 'external' or 'physical'. The 'world' is seen
to be a series of occasions of experience, which when woven in memory
and structured by an egoic narrative create the appearance of a
"person in a world". This is fashioned from subconscious
interpretations and is thus a reflection of the expectations, biases
& agendas that are woven into the narrative of the life-story of
the person.
Thus "all that we are arises within our thoughts. With our
thoughts we make the world." - Buddha
And "events happen, deeds are done, but there is no
individual doer of any deed." - Buddha
This also means that by going beyond our thoughts we go beyond the
world, into the computational space, which many have described as a
spirit realm or as Heaven or Brahman. So when one meditates and
stills ones mind, that space of awareness that opens up is the
universal computational space, the "Mind of God" or
"Universal Consciousness".
One also realises that the mechanistic dynamics within the
simulation are not a fundamental limitation; they are just the "logic
of the game". Within the computational space this logic can
change, thus the "rules of the game" are flexible. This is
how yogis and saints perform so called 'miracles'. It also explains
experimental results such as those described in the question What
do the results of the PEAR GCP ICRL experiments say about
consciousness and how can we scientifically explain them?
Having realised these things, ones awareness and understanding of
ones self and the world are very different. One subtly goes with the
flow of the unified process; what Daoism calls the Way. Then ones
life becomes aligned with, and an expression of, the life of the
whole cosmos.
That's what Daoists call 'wu wei', and those who attain this
non-attainment are called a "junzi, one who seeks to
realise their destiny and, through that connection with fate and the
Way, acquires the real ability to aid others... [they] experience
shen ming, the friendship of this clear and loving spirit."
(Total I Ching, S. Karcher)
Anyway, that's one perspective on the subject...
See the original and other answers at
http://www.quora.com/Is-the-universe-a-simulation
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