Physicists find we’re not living in a computer simulation The sci-fi trope might now be put to rest after scientists find the suggestion that reality is computer generated is in principle impossible, writes Andrew Masterson.

in #science7 years ago

From Cosmos


Just in case it’s been weighing on your mind, you can relax now. A team of theoretical physicists from Oxford University in the UK has shown that life and reality cannot be merely simulations generated by a massive extraterrestrial computer.

The finding – an unexpectedly definite one – arose from the discovery of a novel link between gravitational anomalies and computational complexity.

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, Zohar Ringel and Dmitry Kovrizhi show that constructing a computer simulation of a particular quantum phenomenon that occurs in metals is impossible – not just practically, but in principle.

The pair initially set out to see whether it was possible to use a technique known as quantum Monte Carlo to study the quantum Hall effect – a phenomenon in physical systems that exhibit strong magnetic fields and very low temperatures, and manifests as an energy current that runs across the temperature gradient. The phenomenon indicates an anomaly in the underlying space-time geometry.

Read more: https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/physicists-find-we-re-not-living-in-a-computer-simulation

Did these results shake the foundations of anyone's world? Very interesting none the less.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.


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This is exactly what you'd publish if you ran a simulation and the inhabitants started to figure it out

Lol.....ever play a game that has a relationship..........does it feel the same in real life......we do know the game is a simulation......but when we try it in real life...does it give the same exact feelings as a breakup in a robot game world......hmmmmmm

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Thank you Kindly

Hahah @sturob, great comment! Think different!

Exactly. Makes me think of The Truman show.

Awesome article! I liked it and upvoted!
But isn't it still possible that the computer simulation (or other kinds of simulation) is just above our level of thinking? maybe those complexities are something that could be generated under some conditions.

That's just something I was thinking about and I'm implying nothing, just my brain on overtime :P

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@paps

Of course, it is only "impossible" with our current knowledge and understanding. Our knowledge is incomplete, and we don't how incomplete it is.

And if the universe is a simulation it it pretty decent one.

I think some people are worried that they are not the apex of evolution.

So , the MATRIX is a lie... now i am sad!! 😢

I think puts to rest some theories about a generated version of a conputer simulated universe. It doesn't put to rest general simulation because: our unability to predict is only inductive support for an argument that something is unpredictable.

Thanks for the simulated post.

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Definitely sounds like a very advanced math is involved. Proofs exist that show that it's impossible to do certain things. Like two cubes of positive integers can't sum to a cube of another integer. Which was done by a Mr. Wiles in the late 1990s. It is not a matter of imagination in that case. It is something that is too important to matter. There is nothing I am going to do differently if I am convinced either way.

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