yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Michio Kaku has some news about simulation theory


3m read
·Nov 3, 2024

Processing might take a few minutes. Refresh later.
  • 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...

More Articles

View All
The Global Economic Trends Post-Election | Explorer
Where do you see things now that we’re about a month in? I would actually distinguish between what we actually see in the markets and the story that Wall Street is telling. The story that Wall Street is telling is all optimistic. We’re going to have all …
The future of creativity in algebra | Algebra 1 | Khan Academy
[Music] Hi everyone, Sal Khan here. If you look at most of human history, the top artists, the top musicians were also mathematicians, and also scientists, and also engineers. This convergence between creativity and mathematics and science and engineering…
NEW FED STIMULUS WARNING | FREE MONEY + INFINITE SPENDING
What’s up, you guys? It’s Graham here. So today, I’m going to be pulling a Meet Kevin and posting a brand new video within hours of a market update. And today, that update comes from none other than Jerome Powell, who is the chairman of the Federal Reserv…
How to Analyze an Income Statement Like a Hedge Fund Analyst
Being able to understand and analyze a company’s income statement is one of the most foundational pieces of being a great investor. If you want to invest successfully, this is one of the most important skills in helping you make money by investing. In thi…
Curvature formula, part 4
So, we’ve been talking about curvature, and this means, uh, you’ve got some sort of parametric curve that you might think of as parameterized by a vector-valued function s of t. Curvature is supposed to measure just how much this curve actually curves. So…
Sal's back to school 2021 message
Hi everyone, Sal Khan here from Khan Academy. We’re entering into yet another back to school, but this is a back to school that’s very unusual compared to all others. We hope that we’re finally going to get to some level of normalcy as we see the light a…