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Michio Kaku has some news about simulation theory


3m read
·Nov 3, 2024

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  • Ever since ancient times, people have asked the question, "Is the world a dream?" Is everything around us an illusion created by some God to test us? Well, the modern version of that is, is the Universe a computer game? Are we just dancing puppets, obeying the laws of some computer out there in the Universe? Is everything basically a fake? Well, that theory got a tremendous boost with the "Matrix" series 'cause in the "Matrix," what we thought was real was actually a computer simulation put into our brain by aliens — and so reality, as we knew it, was all wrong.

Is that possible? Well, the answer is probably no. But for a very sophisticated reason. Life is not based on zeros and ones, zeros and ones. Photosynthesis, for example, it is a quantum mechanical process. It is the basis of all life on the Earth — and we still don't know quite how it works. A flower can do calculations that our most advanced quantum computer cannot. Amazing, truly amazing.

So Mother Nature is still smarter than us when it comes to the quantum theory. If you wanna simulate the weather, for example, you have to simulate the motion of trillions upon trillions of atoms. No computer is that powerful, that it can simulate the motion of trillions and trillions of atoms that just make up the atoms in this room. You can't do it. You're talking about 10 to the, let's say, 25. One with 25 zeros after it just to model the atoms inside a goldfish bowl.

So we're talking about a fabulous amount of information necessary to create a model of a dream. And the most intricate quantum device — is you. You are the byproduct of quantum mechanics. If you turned off quantum mechanics, what would happen to your body? It would dissolve. It would dissolve into a bunch of random subatomic particles, and atoms obey the quantum principle. It holds your body together. It allows your atoms to interact with other atoms to create catalysts, to create DNA, and proteins.

So you don't really know where they are at any given point. So there's an infinite number of universes that are possible right in your room. And so, in other words, it is mathematically not possible to create a fictional universe out of atoms in a fictional way. Sorry about that. The Universe is not an illusion.

Now, some people ask another question, "What if the universe is an almost simulation?" That's possible. Maybe you cannot simulate trillions and trillions of atoms because of something called... Now, what's the "butterfly effect?" The butterfly effect is when a butterfly flaps its wings, there's a certain small probability that the waves created by the butterfly will be magnified as it progresses. It may be enough to reach the tipping point.

The tipping point that sets off a storm, okay? The point I'm raising is, no computer is powerful enough to do that computation of a butterfly's wings that could set off a storm. Is it possible? Yes. Is it computable? Probably not.

So, in other words, chances are we do not live in a computer simulation. Sorry about that...

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