Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
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Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#2ArXiv paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.1847
This work attempts to draw out the presence of a simulation by looking for tiny violations of known/expected symmetries, which is always worth doing. We should note, however, that an excellent simulation could exactly cover its tracks, lest the underlying architecture cause unintended artifacts.
From a CS perspective, the simulation's developer might create unit tests that guarantee the preservation of symmetries.
A theorist who develops an experimental test that could prove we do not live in a simulation should be lauded. There are experimentalists (like me) just waiting for such guidance. John Bell's theorem [1] was/is a shining guidestar for physics.
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#3The scientific paper deals with "the hypothesis that the observed universe is a numerical simulation performed on a cubic space-time lattice or grid".
Just because the universe may operate with computer-like regularity and grid-like data structures does not mean "the universe is a computer simulation." At best it means the fundamental laws of physics are "computer-like".
Whether "resembles a computer simulation" equals "is a computer simulation" is a metaphysical/philosophical question.
Finding uncanny resemblance between our own reasoning concepts and the universe is not new - and this uncanny mirroring between abstract mathematical concepts and the laws of physics has been known for quite some time. It's a mystery, not an answer. See: "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences" by Eugene Wigner:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/MathDrama/reading/Wigner.html
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#4If the universe is a simulation, what's to stop the simulation from recognizing that it's being tested and dedicating more resources to making the test result indicate that there is no simulation going on.
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#5If the universe is a simulation, what's to stop the simulation from recognizing that it's being tested and dedicating more resources to making the test result indicate that there is no simulation going on.
That sounds a lot like a measurement having an effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function_collapse
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#6If the universe is a simulation, what's to stop the simulation from recognizing that it's being tested and dedicating more resources to making the test result indicate that there is no simulation going on.
Isaac Asimov's 'The Last Question' answers that.
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#7[deleted]
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#8Me layman's hunch is that we would only be able to test this if either (a) the simulation is flawed, or (b) the simulation designer chooses to give us hints (perhaps more subtle than 'miracles' or revelatory visions).
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#9Quantum Bogosort
Re: Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
#10The scientific paper deals with "the hypothesis that the observed universe is a numerical simulation performed on a cubic space-time lattice or grid". Just because the universe may operate with computer-like regularity and grid-like data structures does not mean "the universe is a computer simulation." At best it means the fundamental laws of physics are "computer-like". Whether "resembles a computer simulation" equa…
Indeed. And conversely, proving that the observed universe does not operate on a cubic space-time lattice would not prove that it is not a simulation of some sort--it would merely prove that it is not a simulation of that sort.