Physicist Says He's Identified a Clue That We're Living in a Computer Simulation
In a new paper published in the journal AIP Advances, University of Portsmouth physicist Melvin Vopson offered a new interpretation of gravity, arguing that it could be the result of the universe trying to make itself less cluttered, thereby behaving much like a computer algorithm.
"This is another example of data compression and computational optimization in our universe, which supports the possibility of a simulated or computational universe," he wrote.
Vopson's article is part of a greater movement of scientists trying to explain the forces of nature by arguing that they're the result of an all-encompassing simulation. In the early 2000s, philosopher Nick Bostrom proposed that our reality is a computer simulation dreamed up by a highly advanced civilization, echoing the plot of the 1999 blockbuster "The Matrix."
But proving the theory is a thorny issue, especially considering if we really were trapped in a simulation, its creators would likely have taken measures to ensure we're unable to peek behind the curtain.
Vopson built on his own "second law of information dynamics" proposition, which holds that the "entropy of any system remains constant or increases over time," to argue that gravity is pulling together matter and objects in space to keep entropy at a minimum, much like a computer tidying and compressing data.
"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," said Vopson in a statement. "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," he added, "not just as a pull, but as something that happens when the universe is trying to stay organised."
In his article, Vopson argued that information stored in elementary cells, defined as the smallest possible volume in space in quantum mechanics, informs the coordinates of matter inside the simulation, a kind of pixelation of ones and zeroes.
"The process is identical to how a digital computer game, virtual reality application, or other advanced simulation would be designed," he said in the statement.
Each cell can fit more than one particle, much like a computational system minimizing information content.
"Put simply, it is far more computationally effective to track and compute the location and momentum of a single object in space, than numerous objects," Vopson argued. "Therefore, it appears that the gravitational attraction is just another optimising mechanism in a computational process that has the role to compress information."
Vopson has long been a proponent of the simulation theory, arguing in 2022 that genomes of the COVID-19 virus exhibited a decreasing entropy over time, supporting evidence of his second law of information dynamics.
In another eyebrow-raising paper, he posited that information could be a "fifth form of matter," again allegedly demonstrating that we live in a simulation.
But whether his research will ever gain mainstream acceptance and approval outside of the fringes of the scientific community remains to be seen.
After all, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence — especially when you're trying to turn reality itself on its head.
More on simulation theory: Mathematician: Here's why the simulation theory is stupid
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scientific American
6 hours ago
- Scientific American
Pessimistic Dogs Are Better at Smelling Cancer—And Other Keys to Disease-Sniffing Success
Billy, a floppy-eared little beagle, darts around a platform sniffing a series of holes. Each hole contains a used surgical-type mask bearing a different human's distinct mix of scents. But her sharp nose is hunting for just one such combination: the one that signals cancer. Cancer can change a person's 'volatilome,' the unique set of volatile organic compounds found in breath, sweat, blood and urine. Billy and her cohort have learned to sniff out these subtle scent cues in masks worn by people with cancer diagnoses. Researchers are also studying how dogs can detect diseases such as COVID and malaria, as well as psychological conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Scientists discovered dogs' powerful disease-smelling skills in 1989, when a dog detected cancer in its handler. But clinicians still do not routinely use dogs for diagnosis. Besides the obvious logistical challenges, dogs vary greatly in their olfactory accuracy. Researchers are increasingly finding that disease-sniffing prowess may come down to individual dogs' personality—and how well their handlers know them. New research efforts are focused on figuring out which dogs would be best for the job and on interpreting dogs' behaviors during a smell test. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Sharyn Bistre Dabbah, a veterinary scientist now at the University of Bristol in England, set out with colleagues at the U.K. charity Medical Detection Dogs to learn how the animals' personalities—especially their level of optimism or pessimism—affect disease-detection skills. Their results appeared recently in PLoS One. The researchers first showed the dogs what lay behind two screens at one end of a room: a 'positive' location with a tasty treat and a 'negative' one with an empty bowl. On subsequent visits to the room, the dogs typically bounded happily toward the former but trotted very slowly when they went to check out the latter—or simply didn't go there at all. The scientists then placed bowls behind two new screens between the positive and negative spots, and they classified the dogs as 'optimistic' or 'pessimistic' based on how quickly they investigated these new locations. Next, the team evaluated how accurately each dog could pick out a disease scent it was trained to detect among other smells. On average, the pessimistic dogs turned out to be more discerning. Pessimistic dogs are more cautious, and 'a more cautious dog might be better at not making mistakes,' Dabbah says. Other personality traits also play a role, says Clara Wilson, who researches disease- and stress-sniffing dogs at the University of Pennsylvania. Dogs that enjoy the thrill of a hunt—and thrive while searching for missing people or hidden bombs—might find sniffing through disease samples again and again rather repetitive. 'We want a dog that doesn't get frustrated. They [should] find it rewarding, even though it may be less exciting,' Wilson explains. Handlers' interpretations of dog behavior can also skew detection outcomes, says Akash Kulgod, co-founder of Dognosis, the Bengaluru-based start-up that trained Billy. Instead of teaching dogs to perform a specific behavior such as sitting or barking when they pick up an assigned scent—a process that takes extra time and can lead to dogs 'lying' for treats—Kulgod and his team directly analyze each dog's natural body language. Based on how confidently the dogs move, as analyzed with computer vision–based machine-learning tools, the team can spot successful detections. 'One of our dogs sniffs and then very confidently somersaults to go to the feeder,' Kulgod says. 'They each have their own unique quirks—but all of it can be quantified because it's all related to this reward expectation that you have from the past sessions.' In a pilot study with 200 test samples involving 10 cancer types, presented at this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology conference, Dognosis dogs detected 96 percent of cancers. Next, the Dognosis team will scale up its study with 1,500 test samples. Doctors currently diagnose many kinds of cancers by using a combination of blood tests and biopsies. Researchers are always on the lookout for less invasive methods—including options directly involving our canine companions, as well as electronic noses inspired by them. Dogs can currently outperform electronic sniffers. But this primacy may not last, according to Andreas Mershin, chief science officer at the Boston-based start-up He and his colleagues are developing electronic noses to sniff urine samples for prostate cancer and other diseases. If machine olfaction eventually surpasses dogs' abilities, it could help tackle the scalability problem—and give the animals a break. Mershin's team put mammalian smell receptors on an electronic chip and used machine-learning algorithms to interpret the output. The technique focuses on broader patterns among detected molecules rather than categorizing them individually. Dogs don't tick off a list of molecules in their heads, either; they just 'know' what cancer smells like. This helps them to sense it accurately no matter which organ it is from or what the patient ate before giving their breath sample. 'The dogs can generalize. They don't care about the font in which you write the scent; they just interpret it correctly,' Mershin says. In a study published in PLoS One, Mershin and his team used machine-learning models to spot and analyze patterns of different odorants in urine samples from confirmed prostate cancer patients. Their findings, which built on work with diagnosis data from Medical Detection Dogs, suggest that focusing on this type of 'scent character' might work as a scalable alternative to dogs, even if it's currently much slower. Meanwhile, back on the test platform, floppy-eared Billy quickly detects the subtle scent of cancer in one of the masks she has been sniffing—and confidently bounds back to get her reward. Such tests show strong potential, says postdoctoral researcher Amritha Mallikarjun of the University of Pennsylvania: 'The dogs, because of their amazing sense of smell and detection capabilities, are demonstrating to us what technology could look like 10 to 15 years from now.'
The Hill
6 hours ago
- The Hill
As COVID babies go to school, educators look for pandemic's impact
Babies born during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic are heading to preschool and kindergarten, and experts are waiting anxiously to see its impact on the young learners. Concerns about cognitive and social delays, such as difficulties sharing or following directions, have arisen, as conflicting studies and educators' anecdotes emerge about 4- and 5-year-olds. While devastating consequences were immediately noticeable for older students during the pandemic, it is too early to get a definitive answer on how it affected those born during the chaos, making vigilance from educators a necessary factor in the upcoming school year, experts stress. One study published recently in Infancy looked at data from 330 infants born from October 2016 to August 2021 and found there was little difference between negative effects on infants before and after pandemic onset, rather higher negative effects on infants were more closely associated with factors such as maternal stress. And stress on caregivers during the pandemic rose significantly with jobs losses and decreases in socialization, but those effects were different based on family income level. 'Kids with families with high socioeconomic backgrounds, they're actually seeing improvement in these kids' development, because caregivers might have been home more often than they were before, they might have had more time and attention and support and family meals and reading together, and all those things we know were really important,' said Rahil Briggs, national director of Zero to Three's HealthySteps program. Another study found that the lower the socioeconomic background, 'the more that decrease in kindergarten readiness showed up,' she added. But other studies showed more differences between the youngest learners before and after COVID-19, including a higher risk for social, cognitive, communication, motor and social delays among those born during the height of the pandemic. A study released in 2024 that examined a cohort of 3.5- to 5.5-year-olds found after the pandemic this age group tested 'significantly worse on several measures of false-belief understanding.' 'So for things to be affecting the kids now, it really has to be something that made a fundamental shift in their development those first couple of years and that can happen. We do know that the first three years of life are super important. What we haven't had is something that hits us over the head yet beyond anecdotal,' said Koraly Pérez-Edgar, a professor of psychology at the Pennsylvania State University. Pérez-Edgar cited a New York Times story from July 2024 that indicated 'the kids going into kindergarten last year were really messed up, or, like, really had a lot of trouble.' But she said such behavior hasn't been borne out in studies yet. 'It's not showing up in the data quite as strongly or quite as forcefully as some of the anecdotal reports say,' adding the concerns experts are worried about likely won't emerge or be discovered until they are in school. Older kids had immediate effects that were easy to see when the pandemic closed schools in 2020 and created restrictions in classrooms in 2021. Behavioral problems in classrooms, chronic absenteeism and anxiety went up, while academic performance went down in older students, with some of those effects still lingering today. But infants had time to live in a world without masks and restrictions for years before heading to kindergarten. 'So, the pandemic was 2020, five years ago, and things really the last three years, they would have had the opportunity to have a pretty normal socialization for most kids,' said Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a psychologist and podcast host of 'Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic.' 'So, I don't think we have to assume that because of COVID these kids are warped. I think we deal with the child in front of us.' Experts and advocates caution vigilance and advise planning for a situation where these children begin to struggle in school, such as smaller class sizes and collaboration with families. 'We think a lower group size or maybe additional adult support in the classroom, like a teacher's aide, could be helpful for kindergarten programs. I do think significant family engagement is going to be really helpful to support these young children and families,' said Ginger Sandweg, senior director early learning at First Things First. But experts also note it is important to recognize children are able to bounce back from adversity well, even if some struggles occurred after the pandemic with socialization. 'I think if schools are aware of these particular areas, they can do more programming in terms of teaching kids like asserting yourself and talking, having conversations,' said Mary Alvord, psychologist and founder of Alvord, Baker & Associates. 'But my area is resilience, and I just feel like we also need to acknowledge the resilience of most kids,' she added.
Boston Globe
6 hours ago
- Boston Globe
After Boston's lab building boom, one-third of it sits empty. What do we do now?
Laboratory space inside 74M. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Advertisement After a COVID-era building boom, The glut of space is particularly striking Advertisement Yet now, converting those empty labs is both financially and physically difficult. And that leaves the real estate industry grappling with a vexing question: What the heck do we do with all this empty space? It's not as easy to swap out lab space for new tenants such as a traditional office or light manufacturing, or converting an Lab buildings are far more technically complicated than most others, with elaborate mechanical and air-treatment systems that take up much more room and are costlier to build. Rishi Nandi, a leader in design firm Sasaki's science and technology practice, said lab space can cost around $1,200 per square foot — at least 50 percent more than office space. That means a lab building commands higher rents to make sense to investors. When developers borrow money to fund construction, they model what the building is expected generate in rent, to show lenders the kind of return they can expect. Lab users typically pay higher rents than a standard office user; asking rent for a new lab in Greater Boston is about $85 per square foot, versus around $50 on average for office space, Newmark research shows. Investors who financed a lab building will want to see that higher number. A view of 109 Brookline Ave. in Boston's Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood. David L Ryan/ Globe Staff Most owners or operators considering different uses for their lab space have buildings in 'core and shell' status — meaning they are all but done but for the final fit out of the tenants's specific gear and fixtures. Still, even some 'core and shell' buildings have multiple millions of dollars' worth of HVAC systems, cooling towers, and other specialized equipment. Advertisement Then there are the physical challenges of converting lab space into office or housing. Typically, around 40 percent of a lab building is designed for office use. But the whole building needs robust mechanical systems, redundant power — so as not lose research in the case of a power outage — and much more intense ventilation. In all, lab buildings typically have three times as much mechanical equipment as office buildings, said Larry Dubord, senior chief engineer with JLL. In the mechanical floor on the 17th floor of 74M, a 10-foot-by-20-foot air duct sprawls across much of the double-height floor, pushing air into workspaces below. HVAC systems in lab buildings don't recirculate air within the building as offices and apartment buildings do, but instead constantly bring in outside air that has to be heated, cooled, or dehumidified before it can go into workspaces. The ductwork for all that often requires higher ceilings, which eats into rentable space. A 300-foot apartment tower could feature at least 25 stories with hundreds of units; by contrast, the 294-foot 74M has just 15 rentable floors for tenants. The difference in ceiling heights, Nandi of Sasaki said, translates to potentially dozens fewer apartments paying rent each month. Massive air ducts, such as those in 74M, are needed for lab space. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff 'When you look at it from a financial modeling perspective, it's just a lot less space,' he said. Advertisement And there are small but crucial differences in how different kinds of buildings are designed, said Troy Depeiza, a principal and co-founder of architecture firm DREAM Collaborative in Boston and an expert in designing life science labs. Warehouses, for instance, need floors that can hold a lot more weight, to safely load goods and drive forklifts. Residential building codes require lots of windows. Even elevators, staircases, and bathrooms are often placed differently in lab buildings than in residential or industrial. 'There's going to be a whole lot of rejiggering to make that work,' he said. It just 'wouldn't be efficient." So, for the most part, their owners have few options other than waiting for the market to recover. Some, though, are 'looking hard at marketing those spaces to other users,' be it office or medical office tenants closer to Boston or so-called 'tough tech' and advanced manufacturing out in the suburbs, said Liz Berthelette, the head of Northeast research with Newmark in Boston. Empty lab space overlooks housing in Somerville at 74M. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff One developer leasing lab buildings to life-science companies — but not to use as laboratories — is Boston Properties, now known as BXP. The office giant broke ground in 2021 on a $290.5 million lab building next to the ThermoFisher Scientific's headquarters in Waltham's CityPoint; earlier this year it signed a lease with a unnamed life-science company that only wanted the office space. The firm is now negotiating two similar deals in the building, BXP president Doug Linde told Wall Street analysts last month. 'The economics of doing an office transaction on raw space, even though the building had been purpose-built for lab and has the infrastructure, are far superior to lab transactions today, given the elevated tenant improvements necessary to compete in the lab market,' he said. Advertisement For developers of lab projects that haven't yet started construction, switching uses may also be a tough financial loss to swallow. Many paid a premium for the land on the expectation of charging higher lab rents, and pivoting to another use such as housing means potentially years in permitting, with all the architect, attorney, and engineering bills that would entail. But some are deciding to make such a change: In June, Bulfinch president Robert A. Schlager That shift can also come at a cost to municipalities. Many cities and towns across Greater Boston leaned hard on the lab boom to diversify their tax bases and bring in more commercial tax revenue, which would help offset the burden on homeowners. Somerville, for example, has seen nearly 2 million square feet of new lab space since 2020, a crucial part of its especially after Some of the labs are bustling and full; others, like 74M, stand empty. 74M at Middlesex Avenue outside Assembly Square in Somerville is vacant. David L Ryan/ Globe Staff Tom Galligani, executive director of Somerville's office of strategic planning and community development, said the city is fortunate in that its lab space is new construction and not conversions of older offices, as was the case in many nearby suburbs. The new buildings incorporate rigorous energy efficiency standards that are attractive to future tenants, and Galligani is confident they will at some point be occupied. Advertisement 'All of our stuff is brand new," he said. 'I'd like to think we're not going to have the same challenges in the life-science space. But of course, time will tell.' Matt DeNoble, a senior director for Greystar, the developer behind the 74M building, said the firm is better off waiting for the right tenants than to try to force a use that doesn't make sense. With immediate 'We're starting to see groups say: 'It's time for us to make decisions,'' DeNoble said. 'We are not worried long term about filling this building up.' The main lobby of the new lab building at 74 Middlesex Avenue. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Catherine Carlock can be reached at
