Detecting if the universe is a simulation

[goran d]

I came up with a (not yet) practical idea about how to detect if the universe is a simulation. Presumably, a finite information simulation cannot be independent of reference frame. We could for example detect floating-point round off errors if we accelerate something very close to the speed of light. Although that'll only work if the quantities are stored in fixed number of bits. For instance, velocity/energy could start to increase in noticeable steps at some point when increasing it.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Or you could just pinch yourself.

 

[rootone]

What would it be a simulation of ?, and how could we know if that is itself not a simulation of something?, ad infinitum.

 

[julian]

No on can be told what the matrix is! Actually, there are some theories where the universe can be thought of as a program in some kind of giant quantum computer:

"The Computing Spacetime" by Fotini Markopoulou http://fr.arxiv.org/pdf/1201.3398

Abstract.
The idea that the Universe is a program in a giant quantum computer is both fascinating and suffers from various problems. Nonetheless, it can provide a unified picture of physics and this can be very useful for the problem of Quantum Gravity where such a unification is necessary. In previous work we proposed Quantum Graphity, a simple way to model a dynamical spacetime as a quantum computation. In this paper, we give an easily readable introduction to the idea of the universe as a quantum computation, the problem of quantum gravity, and the graphity models.

This paper may interest you.

Whether some higher intelligence is behind the thing? Whether cracking the code means you won't have to dodge the bullets?

 

[Drakkith]

I came up with a (not yet) practical idea about how to detect if the universe is a simulation.

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