Is our universe the ultimate computer? Scientist says we're living in a simulation
In his new paper Melvin Vopson, an associate professor in physics at the University of Portsmouth, said our universe is the 'ultimate computer.'
Gravity's pull – both on planet Earth and in outer space – is the universe trying to keep its vast amount of data organised, Vopson claims.
Vopson adds that forcing objects with mass into one direction – for example downwards towards Earth's core – is similar to how computers compress code.
The scientist said: 'The universe evolves in a way that the information content in it is compressed, optimized and organized – just as computers and computer code do.
'Hence, gravity appears to be another process of data compression in a possibly simulated universe.'
The simulation theory is not unique to Professor Vopson and is popular among a number of well-known figures including Elon Musk.
However, in recent years Vopson has been investigating the various cues that suggest we live in a simulated reality.
His new study, published in AIP Advances, reports that gravity may be one of these everyday clues and 'evidence of a computational universe'.
Gravitational attraction helps to reduce 'information entropy' – which is essentially how much information there is in an object in a given space.
The study introduces 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.
Vopson said: '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.'
The scientist stresses that he's not only talking about the gravitational pull we see on Earth and the 'apple falling on Isaac Newton's head' moment four centuries ago.
But is instead speaking much more widely, gravity is a fundamental force throughout our vast universe, which is commonly said to be 93billion light-years across.
In space, gravity has many roles including building entire galaxies, pulling planets into orbit around their stars, and influencing the motion of nearby objects.
So, in space, matter and objects may be being pulled together because the universe is trying to keep information tidy and compressed.
Vopson said: '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.'
The physicist is known for formulating the principle that information is not just an abstract mathematical entity, but a 'physical, dominant, fifth state of matter'.
He argues that information has mass and that all elementary particles – the smallest known building blocks of the universe – store information about themselves, similar to the way cells have DNA.
He thinks bits – the unit of digital information – have their own mass and energy, which has wide-ranging implications for computing technologies, physics and cosmology.
In a previous paper, Vopson established a new law of physics, called the 'second law of information dynamics' to explain how information behaves.
His law establishes that the 'entropy', or disorder, in a system of information decreases rather than increases.
This new law came as somewhat of a surprise, because it is the opposite of the second law of thermodynamics, established in the 1850s, which explains why we cannot unscramble an egg or why a glass cannot unbreak itself.
As it turns out, the second law of infodynamics explains the behaviour of information in a way that the old law cannot.
Vopson said; 'The second law of infodynamics requires the minimisation of the information content associated with any event or process in the universe.
'To put it simply, everything appears to evolve to an equilibrium state where the information content is minimal.
'Such behaviour is fully reminiscent of the rules deployed in programming languages and computer coding.'
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