Is the Universe itself a computer program?

Originally posted by HDD09
so. lets hack this computer program

and give us Matrix power

.

Prehaps magick and the occult is just that, hacking Universe. I'm a practitioner and that IS how I think of it.

Vas

If the Universe is a computer program lets just all pray we dont get the fatal blue screen.

I think that or science is built within the frame work of the universe, out of the stuff that is in the universe. Or computers are extensions and reflections of the laws of the universe. That is why It could seem that the universe is a computer program. But thats back ward thinking. I think youd have to build a computer that exists outside of this universe but that would be a little difficult, unles you consider the quantum tunneling at the micro levels in your brain which bridge up to the macro.

A real great book I read is called Quantum evolution. I dont remember the author. Basically it says, in order to create self replicating patterns of energy about 26 chemical reactions had to take place in an exact sequence, but that the odds of that are to high, so the photons, or quantum particles jumped out of this universe, found the answer, then came back. It is a real good book.

I also read in Scientific American that the universe could actually be 2 dimensional but that gravity is what gives it the illusion of 3d. So actually we could be living on one big excell spread sheet.

God creates the universe - evolution is his/her tool.

Originally posted by d60944

Simply to note that the universe can be explained in terms of a computer programme seems to be backwards thinking... A computer is a physical object, performing physical processes. However quickly and small-scale, they are still physical processes going on the chips and circuits. Given that all physical processes in the universe are goverened by the same physical laws it comes as no surprise to me that computers operate according to principles found throughout the universe, the same way as shoemakers, souffles and supernovae do. I am saying that the argument works better the other way round: that computers can only use the same principles as those which govern the universe at large, and therefore to some extent are related in their workings to the workings of nature - just like all things that exist within the universe - and that is why there is a resemblance.

Cheers.

Originally posted by moldmakertech
I think that or science is built within the frame work of the universe, out of the stuff that is in the universe. Or computers are extensions and reflections of the laws of the universe. That is why It could seem that the universe is a computer program. But thats back ward thinking.

two great posts ..


for all we know, "laws" of the universe that we perceive are not really what we think they are ..

also on topic of the "universe" in instances like this, provides very little spiritual insight at all .... for the universe cannot be contained to our basic senses or how we perceive things in the physical world , in essence to create true AI would be like creating life , if you think there will one day be a computer code to create some kind of AI that is self aware and "alive" then i think you need to step back just a little bit and look outside the box....

if you say that later on we could create a program that could simulate a very life like AI then i would say yes quite capable.... i guess it could be used for some good entertainment value ... lol

soo.. just a quick thought..
just supposin there is some kind of pc type of design in the universe,.. would that make us the ai? or perhaps that's what happened, God made the 'system', and we came from within the system, and now WE have conscious thoughts and are able to questions our own existence.Have you ever wondered what really (aside from the obvious) makes us different from every other living thing we have encountered/haven't yet?

perhaps god created us a computer simulation to question the very question that he is unable to answer, who/what created the universe. and if it has a predefined shaped, is it in a liquid state, or gaseous state, and what is outside of its defined shape if it has one. just the blue screen or just darkness...

btw if we r all a simulation, then there must be other simulations running too, so time travel/ dimension rips/switching is possible. cant wait for them to be invented so that i can meet my other selves. Hopefully some of them are billionaires.

Originally posted by mashup
Maybe we're not even physically real....or we're just someone else's thoughts.

Originally posted by mashup

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT WE COULD BE LIVING IN IF WE DO LIVE

[edit on 5/24/06 by deadleaves]

if the universe IS a computer program....its time for a HARD REBOOT !!

I'll bet somewhere way down in the corner of the universe is a little copyrighted logo that says MicroSoft.

If within an original "true" universe a large number of civilizations were able to create artificial universes of their own, then the number of artificial universes would far out weigh the number of "true" ones. So it would seem that the odds of us living in a true universe as opposed to an artificial are very small. Just an odd quick thought.

The truth of the matter is we don't know enough about the universe yet to answer that question with scientific proof. Faith is another matter entirely. It is what it is.

I don't believe that the universe is a computer program and I don't believe that the universe should be thought of strictly as a container that contains everything.

I believe that the universe we know of is actually nothing more than a "size". What I mean by that is that there are an infinite amount of sizes of existance that exist within each other, our universe is just one of these indeterminate sizes that exists between larger and smaller sizes, all of which are a respective "universe".

bravo namtar! that is great way of putting it

A computer program is probably the best analogy I've come across to describe how the universe functions. If you think of the universe as the CPU, space/time as a hard drive, our brains as RAM, body parts as I/O devices, and chaos algorythms for the software. God is the electricity that keeps it all running.

here is a very simple mini-universe
www.people.nnov.ru...


An excellent example of matrix-like computer programs would be massively multiplayer online games.

www.secondlife.com...

If any of you are gluttons for punishment, go to Amazon and shell out 25 bucks for "Information Mechanics" by Frederic Kantor.

He puts forth the theory that all physics can be modeled as a computational data flow. In other words, the universe is a big computer program.

The book is incredibly difficult, though, and is mostly the sort of maths that you just look at and say 'no thanks'.

Originally posted by Tom Bedlam
If any of you are gluttons for punishment, go to Amazon and shell out 25 bucks for "Information Mechanics" by Frederic Kantor.

He puts forth the theory that all physics can be modeled as a computational data flow. In other words, the universe is a big computer program.

The book is incredibly difficult, though, and is mostly the sort of maths that you just look at and say 'no thanks'.

You can put equations together that will equal life .. But they will have factors in them that are what they will call Universal ... or ... X [Factors] that no one knows what is ... or what it means ... Just use X ... I love math ... Let's see ... Love=L ... and [L=L*o/V-E]2 Lol ... Peace .. love and ... you know th rest !!!

Yeah, but his is more like Penrose transforms and ambitwistors. The sort of math you get published in Annalen Der Physik. The sort where your information mechanics equations return the same values as measured phenomena. A book that's in LLNL's recommended reading list. The kind of thing people write their PhD theses around...like this guy: www.springerlink.com...

Or this one: www.osti.gov...



Real math, in other words. Just godawful real math.

[edit on 24-7-2006 by Tom Bedlam]

Yea but still, after all of the theories of who created the universe at a whole, after you think of ways that it could scientifically be proven, and after all the thoughts that different religions believe...the first post said who created the water bottle itself and the water inside of it...well who created the person to create the water bottle? Our minds can't even begin to comprehend the creation of our surroundings that we've come so accustomed to living in. I mean really, we can't even explain gravity. If we don't even know the values of the variables in the math equation, how are we even going to begin to solve it?

If the universe is a computer program, then it must be a really good one, because there are no bugs in it (yet).

since none of us is right or wrong because our finite thought capacity can prove so little, lets just speculate :


I dont think that there is such force, creature, thing, whatever, that mostly christians or others percieve as the ultimate power in the universe and call GOD.

I find it also a bit stupid to be a HE, an old granpa with a beard and a glowing head.
it could be ANYTHING. first of all it might even have a sex. or it might be a SHE.
or not even a person. might be a COLLECTIVE consiousness.

nevertheless, to stick with the question, I believe that what the majority things as GOD, or A god or creation, if we compare the UNIVERSE with a computer, that thing hasis probably the operating system. it sets certain laws, undder wich all other programs and functions operate.

this also means that it has a loop operation for almost everything, and a checksum.
thats why we see same stuff happening in the universe. suns, planets, moons, stars, supernovas, black holes, etc.
similar programs running in parallel, with the ability to copy and re-execute or even destroy themselves, like enhanced versions of computeres silulations/viruses.

in my opinion if that is the case, then we might accept a paradox.
the fact that the creator, the programmer, the computer, the network, the operating system, the execution commands, and the result, ARE ON AND THE SAME.

and at a certain mpoint it expands and regenerates its self.
like when bees take a new queen and fly away to form a new colony.

some said that i couldnt be possible cause the universe is so vast.
I say WHO are we to know for a fact what is universe, how it works, where it ends and who made it? we just speculate based on FINITE HUMAN knowledge and behavior. its way beyond our realm to be positive of anything. I for one dont believe all the speculations from scientists because the fact that they have a telescope and a degree in math or physics is irrelevant. they cant prove anything or travel and get back with proof.

so I d say we take everything with a grain of salt, and be as open minded as we can.