A new study has suggested that the idea of our universe being a simulation does not hold up at all, and it’s not because of a lack of imagination.
The theory that our lived experience is actually a simulation created by an advanced civilization has been around for a while. It’s a chilling thought. What if none of this is real?
It only became more popular ever since The Matrix hit theaters in 1999. With so many technological developments, AI, and virtual reality getting increasingly sophisticated within the last few decades, it’s easy to see why such a thing might even seem plausible.
But a team of scientists at the University of British Columbia has demonstrated that the simulation theory is mathematically impossible. For years, the simulation theory has been regarded as something that cannot be tested by the scientific process.
However, the latest research shows that it can be scientifically addressed. Now, we finally have the answer to one of science’s most interesting questions.
Any simulation, no matter how complex, is ultimately based on algorithms and follows programmed rules. They found that the universe cannot be reproduced by an algorithm, which means we must be real flesh and blood after all. There is no cosmic computer pulling the strings—just good old-fashioned reality.
They set out to see if the universe could be reproduced by a super-advanced computer algorithm using complex mathematical concepts like Tarski’s undefinability theorem, Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, and Chaitin’s information-theoretic incompleteness to identify the limitations of algorithms. Once they crunched out some serious equations, they had their final answer.
“Together, these results imply that a wholly algorithmic ‘Theory of Everything’ is impossible: certain facets of reality will remain computationally undecidable and can be accessed only through non-algorithmic understanding,” wrote the authors.
“Because any putative simulation of the universe would itself be algorithmic, this framework also implies that the universe cannot be a simulation.”
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The study authors also delved into the concept of the “Platonic realm” of mathematics, a realm that’s more real than the physical universe we experience and from which space and time emerge.
After drawing on mathematical theorems related to incompleteness and indefinability, they concluded that not even this realm can fully describe reality using computation alone.
“It requires non-algorithmic understanding, which by definition is beyond algorithmic computation and therefore cannot be simulated. Hence, this universe cannot be a simulation,” said Mir Faizal, the lead author of the study.
So, while The Matrix made for good cinema, the math says that we’re not trapped in a digital illusion. Sorry to all the conspiracists out there, but it can’t get any realer than our world!
The findings were published in the Journal of Holography Applications in Physics.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
