Are we somebody's simulation?
The basic premise of the upcoming novel The Milk Run is that our universe is just one tiny particle within an infinite set of larger and larger universes. Recently, I came across a description of The EAGLE Project. EAGLE stands for Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments.
Basically, these scientists over in England are simulating the entire universe using super-computers. Even with all the computing power available to them, the smallest "particle" they can resolve has a mass roughly a million times that of our Sun. So it isn't really simulating our universe down to the atomic level. But it raises an interesting question which is very Matrix-like. If we can simulate a large scale version of our universe, what if there are aliens out there with infinitely more powerful computers and they are merely simulating our universe. How would we know?
Oddly, there are people out there who are considering just such questions. A scientist named Nick Bostrom has studied this question and come up with what he calls the Simulation Argument.
This is kind of a scary article. There are basically two tests you can run and given the proper results, you can definitively disprove we are a simulation. A positive result does not prove we are a simulation but doesn't rule it out. A paper by Silas Beane from the University of Bonn showed that one of the tests, the upper limit to the amount of energy in cosmic rays test, is consistent with our universe being a simulation! The second test, which has to do with granularity and directionality, has yet to be performed.
So what happens if some day, that second test is performed and it, too, does not rule out that we are nothing but a simulation? Does that mean we are? No. But it doesn't mean we aren't, either. And if we are a simulation, one thing is for sure, if somebody ever pulled the plug on us, we'd never know. We'd simply wink out of existence. Maybe they shut us down for millions of years at a time, mid-sentence and then start us up again. How would we know?
Very, very creepy. Let's just hope they don't pull the plug any time soon.
Basically, these scientists over in England are simulating the entire universe using super-computers. Even with all the computing power available to them, the smallest "particle" they can resolve has a mass roughly a million times that of our Sun. So it isn't really simulating our universe down to the atomic level. But it raises an interesting question which is very Matrix-like. If we can simulate a large scale version of our universe, what if there are aliens out there with infinitely more powerful computers and they are merely simulating our universe. How would we know?
Oddly, there are people out there who are considering just such questions. A scientist named Nick Bostrom has studied this question and come up with what he calls the Simulation Argument.
This is kind of a scary article. There are basically two tests you can run and given the proper results, you can definitively disprove we are a simulation. A positive result does not prove we are a simulation but doesn't rule it out. A paper by Silas Beane from the University of Bonn showed that one of the tests, the upper limit to the amount of energy in cosmic rays test, is consistent with our universe being a simulation! The second test, which has to do with granularity and directionality, has yet to be performed.
So what happens if some day, that second test is performed and it, too, does not rule out that we are nothing but a simulation? Does that mean we are? No. But it doesn't mean we aren't, either. And if we are a simulation, one thing is for sure, if somebody ever pulled the plug on us, we'd never know. We'd simply wink out of existence. Maybe they shut us down for millions of years at a time, mid-sentence and then start us up again. How would we know?
Very, very creepy. Let's just hope they don't pull the plug any time soon.
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Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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