No red pill: UBC study says that the matrix can't be real
Sorry if you thought you were The One, as new research from UBC Okanagan (UBCO) claims that the matrix isn’t real and debunks the idea that we’re living in a computer simulation.
The study doesn’t just say that the computer simulation theory isn’t likely; using mathematics, it claims that it’s strictly impossible.
Dr. Mir Faizal is an adjunct professor with UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science. His findings, along with those of colleagues Dr. Lawrence M. Krauss, Dr. Arshid Shabir and Dr. Francesco Marino, have shown that reality operates in a way that a computer could not simulate.
UBCO said the findings were published in the Journal of Holography Applications in Physics and that those findings go beyond just suggesting that we’re not living in a world like The Matrix.
“They prove something far more profound: the universe is built on a type of understanding that exists beyond the reach of any algorithm,” UBCO says in a release.
“It has been suggested that the universe could be simulated. If such a simulation were possible, the simulated universe could itself give rise to life, which in turn might create its own simulation. This recursive possibility makes it seem highly unlikely that our universe is the original one, rather than a simulation nested within another simulation,” Dr. Faizal said.
“This idea was once thought to lie beyond the reach of scientific inquiry. However, our recent research has demonstrated that it can, in fact, be scientifically addressed.”
UBCO says quantum mechanics has transformed our understanding of reality.
“Today’s cutting-edge theory — quantum gravity — suggests that even space and time aren’t fundamental. They emerge from something deeper: pure information,” UBCO says.
The team was able to demonstrate that the information-based foundation can’t describe reality using computation on its own.
To break it down in simple terms, UBCO said to think of a computer as following recipes, step by step, “no matter how complex.”
“But some truths can only be grasped through non-algorithmic understanding—understanding that doesn’t follow from any sequence of logical steps,” UBCO explains.
Dr. Faizal says that the team demonstrated that it’s not possible to describe all aspects of physical reality using a computational theory of quantum gravity.
“Therefore, no physically complete and consistent theory of everything can be derived from computation alone. Rather, it requires a non-algorithmic understanding, which is more fundamental than the computational laws of quantum gravity and therefore more fundamental than spacetime itself,” he added.
Dr. Krauss said that the research has profound implications.
“The fundamental laws of physics cannot be contained within space and time, because they generate them. It has long been hoped, however, that a truly fundamental theory of everything could eventually describe all physical phenomena through computations grounded in these laws. Yet we have demonstrated that this is not possible. A complete and consistent description of reality requires something deeper—a form of understanding known as non-algorithmic understanding,” Dr. Krauss said.
UBCO says that the research marks a significant scientific achievement.
“Any simulation is inherently algorithmic—it must follow programmed rules,” Dr. Faizal says.
“But since the fundamental level of reality is based on non-algorithmic understanding, the universe cannot be, and could never be, a simulation.”
Whoa.
You can read the full release about the study on the UBCO website.