Do We Live In A Simulated Reality Like In The 'Matrix'? UK Scientist Makes Bold Claim
"The universe evolves in a way that the information content in it is compressed, optimised and organised – just as computers and computer code do. Hence, gravity appears to be another process of data compression in a possibly simulated universe," he told the Daily Mail.
According to the study, gravity reduces "information entropy," or the amount of information an object holds in a given space. Gravity shapes galaxies, orbits planets around stars, and affects nearby objects' motion. In Dr Vopson's theory, gravity pulls objects together as the universe strives to keep information organised and compressed.
"To put it simply, it is easier to compute all the properties and characteristics of a single object in space, rather than multiple objects. That is why objects in space are pulled together," Dr Vopson added.
Dr. Vopson's idea builds on his previous work on entropy in information theory, which likely explores how information systems tend to become more disordered or complex over time.
"A super complex universe like ours, if it were a simulation, would require a built-in data optimisation and compression to reduce the computational power and the data storage requirements to run the simulation. This is exactly what we are observing all around us, including in digital data, biological systems, mathematical symmetries and the entire universe," he explained in 2023.
This time, he shifted his focus from biological systems to gravity, exploring its potential connection to information theory and the simulated universe hypothesis.
"My findings in this study fit with the thought that the universe might work like a giant computer, or our reality is a simulated construct. Just like computers try to save space and run more efficiently, the universe might be doing the same. It's a new way to think about gravity – not just as a pull, but as something that happens when the universe is trying to stay organised," Mr Vopson explained.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
Two Chennai-based aquanauts successfully dive 5,000m deep in Atlantic Ocean
CHENNAI: Two Chennai-based scientists successfully completed India's maiden deep dive, reaching nearly 5,000 metres in the North Atlantic Ocean aboard the French submersible Nautile. The mission is a preparatory step for the Samudrayaan project, in which the indigenously built Matsya 6000 will carry three people to 6,000m by Dec 2027. On Aug 4 and 5, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) aquanauts Cdr Jatinder Pal Singh, a former Navy officer, descended to 5,002m, and R Ramesh to 4,025m, in separate dives. Three other scientists remained aboard the support vessel, tracking the dives and communicating with the aquanauts. Using a robotic arm, they placed the Indian flag on the ocean floor. The dives took place weeks after astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to reach the International Space Station. Cdr J P Singh said nearly half of the 10-hour expedition was spent descending and ascending. On the seabed, he collected samples with robotic arms, tested emergency ascent procedures, and assessed life-support functions under power failure and CO2 build-up scenarios. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo 'At that depth, there is no sunlight; we trained with and without lights,' he said. Singh, who survived the week-long mission mostly on peanuts and lost nearly 3kg, has 3,000 dive hours, including a 670m dive record and 11 live submarine rescue operations. Ramesh, an experienced ROV pilot, described the dive as 'seeing through our eyes what we earlier only saw through cameras.' His five-hour mission included navigation, inspection, and sampling. 'Two of us were lying prostrate while one sat in the French vehicle. In Matsya 6000, all three will be seated. It will also have advanced scientific sensors,' he said. During a media interaction in New Delhi, Union minister Jitendra Singh called it part of India's 'double conquest' of unexplored frontiers that will mark the beginning of value addition in India's economic growth. The successful dive also put India in an elite group of fewer than half a dozen nations to have ventured so deep into the ocean. 'When we have an Indian going in an Indian spaceship, we will have one or more Indians going down in a submersible, both indigenous vehicles,' he said. Ministry of Earth Sciences secretary M Ravichandran said the expedition, conducted with France's research institute Ifremer, provided hands-on training in pre-dive preparation, piloting, robotic arm use, deployment and retrieval, trajectory tracking, and acoustic communication. 'We will undertake many more dives in this ship before using Matsya 6000,' he said. The fourth-generation Matsya 6000, designed with multiple safety redundancies and an endurance of 96hours, was integrated for 5,000m and completed harbour wet tests in Chennai. It will undergo 500metre shallow water trials in 2026. A ship with a 27-tonne crane to lower the submersible is being built. A flotation unit, fabricated in France and tested in Norway, will arrive in Nov. The titanium sphere to carry the crew, being fabricated by ISRO, will withstand 600 bars of pressure. 'Once it is ready, we can dive to 6,000m,' Ravichandran said. NIOT director Balaji Ramakrishnan said every component, from fasteners to sensors, is being designed to endure crushing pressures. 'Very soon our Matsya will take the dive,' he said. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Happy Independence Day wishes , messages , and quotes !
Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Tech promised better rest. So, why are we still wide awake?
Did we sleep though the alarm? It must have sounded when tech first came for our health choices. We tracked everything: Calories, steps, resting heart rate, metabolism, breathing patterns, water intake. It all helped… until it didn't. Turns out, we need discipline, not data, to stay healthy. Knowing how long you slept or how deeply you did isn't going to make you more rested. (SHUTTERSTOCK) And here's tech again, coming for our sleep. The battle for eight hours of proper shut-eye has a leaderboard of its own. Smart rings are tracking REM cycles. There are AI-enabled mattresses and pillows that adjust themselves for perfect alignment. Spotify has playlists for white noise, whale sounds and music that gets more downtempo with every track, to lull you into stupor. At that Japanese home-goods shop in the mall, everyone's putting their hands into the hole to test if the bedsheet fabric really lowers the temperature by one degree. Melatonin melts are big business. Health nerds on Insta are convinced that eating two kiwis before bed will put them to sleep. And yet, we're no closer to sleeping better than before. Could sleepmaxxing be the thing that's coming in the way of rest? Gayathri Subramanian works at the cognitive neuroscience lab at Northwestern University, USA. She knows that sleep is more than a rest-and-reboot period for the body. 'It plays a crucial role in helping us learn new things, and it directly impacts memory consolidation and storage that acquire over the day,' she says. Subramanian is not surprised that there's so much interest in sleep now. We're sleeping later and less. And every tracking device is convinced that the problem can be managed with data. 'There's even a name for the phenomenon in which one is so obsessed with sleep data that it affects their rest: Orthosomnia,' she says. Put the devices away. We're probably expecting too much benefit from too little sleep. (SHUTTERSTOCK) Here's what sleep trackers won't tell you: Good rest isn't about the numbers. Even the eight-hour mandate is a myth, says Dr Ragavendar B, a Chennai-based consultant neurologist. For much of human history, we slept in two short spells over a 24-hour period, rather than one long one. It helped our ancestors migrate and fend off predators. We, meanwhile, aim for one eight-hour stretch, and we trust data more than how we feel in the morning. 'Sleep devices aren't change makers; they are awareness tools,' he says. They're problem finders, not problem solvers. We're probably expecting too much benefit from too little sleep. 'The data that these devices collect is only 85% accurate,' says Subramanian. Besides, they only illustrate the what, not the why, of troubled sleep. 'There could be underlying reasons, such as obesity, psychiatric issues, or sleep apnoea,' says Dr. Ragavendar. Those aren't things that a ring, cooling bedsheet or a whale-sound playlist can address. We'll probably make a bad sleep decision this weekend. We might stay awake longer, and hope to make up the resting time later. Don't push the deficit back by more than 48 hours, warns Dr. Ragavendar. 'It will increase stress hormones such as cortisol, which again leads to poor sleep quality, pushing you into a cycle.' The formula for good sleep is crushingly dull: Sleeping and waking at the same times, dimming the lights as bedtime approaches, putting the phone away, eating an hour before sleeping, getting warm and comfy. We knew that already. It's why no device, hack or trend has been able to actually deliver better sleep. Rest isn't something to win at; it's something to surrender to. The real flex isn't a high score on the Oura ring or checking the pillow app in the morning. It's actually being enough of a loser to call it a day, over and over, so you wake up a winner. From HT Brunch, Aug 16, 2025 Follow us on
Hindustan Times
15 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Trump Order Seeks To Cut Regulations for Space Industry
President Trump issued an executive order that aims to speed up rocket launching and opens the door to more spaceport developments. PREMIUM President Trump's order seeks to make it easier to build new spaceports. Many space industry executives have been frustrated by the pace regulators have moved to permit launches and other space operations, and had anticipated the Trump administration would try to address the issue. Those expectations were fed by the alliance between the president and Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX who advised Trump before their high-profile split. Musk has criticized regulators over the years, including last fall when he said they were slowing the company's progress with Starship. Texas-based SpaceX is developing the experimental rocket for a range of future missions. The Federal Aviation Administration oversees private rocket launches as part of its work managing U.S. airspace. Current and former FAA officials have said the agency is committed to working with space companies to coordinate launches and re-entries of private spacecraft back to Earth from orbit. Currently, SpaceX launches more rockets more often than any other company, meaning the order to speed up the licensing of flights should help it. But other launchers, including Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance, are also poised to begin flying their new rockets more often in the years ahead. Trump's order, signed on Wednesday, also seeks to make it easier to build new spaceports, where launches and other operations could take place, by streamlining environmental reviews. Most rocket launches from the U.S. take place from the Cape Canaveral area on Florida's east coast or from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California. Orchestrating launches is a growing challenge for rocket executives and officials, generating efforts by other spaceports to handle some of that traffic. Many of those efforts are nascent, however, and creating new facilities would likely face pushback from neighbors to the sites and environmental advocates. Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Federation, a trade group, said the order would strengthen the industry by cutting red tape while maintaining a commitment to public safety. Write to Micah Maidenberg at All Access. One Subscription. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives. E-Paper Full Archives Full Access to HT App & Website Games Already subscribed? Login SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
