Are we a computer program? Physicist tests simulation hypothesis

A recently published study by a physicist at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom re-examines the so-called second law of information dynamics and its applicability to different domains of information in support of the “simulation hypothesis.” This philosophical theory It suggests that the entire universe, including us and our objective reality, are characters in an advanced virtual world.

The second law of infodynamics was proposed in 2022 by the current study’s author, Melvin Vopson, in collaboration with mathematician Serban Lepadatu of the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, also in the United Kingdom. According to them, entropy in information systems works in opposition to entropy in general physical events. i.e. remains constant or decreases over time.

Reaffirming the applicability of the second law of infodynamics to “digital information, genetic information, atomic physics, mathematical symmetries, and cosmology,” Vopson goes further in the current work and tests his law to see “whether it would further support the simulation hypothesis.” , transferring it from the philosophical field to mainstream science”.

Testing the simulation hypothesis from the perspective of the 2nd law of information dynamics

Vopson started his series of tests with genetics, analyzing RNA sequences from different variants of the covid-19 virus. It found that SARS-CoV-2 variants exhibit a decrease in information entropy as they mutate. These findings suggest that there is some kind of mechanism that governs mutation not randomly, but under the assumptions of the second law of information dynamics.

Moving his research to the field of physics, he discovered that the organization of electrons in an atom was made to minimize information entropy. This means, For the universe to continue expandingThe increase in physical entropy regulated by the second law of thermodynamics must be balanced by a corresponding decrease in information entropy.

Although it has long been known that these symmetry principles are regulated by nature, there is still little information about why this occurs. Vopson concludes: “My findings suggest that high symmetry corresponds to a state of lowest information entropy, potentially explaining nature’s bias towards it.”

In the simulation hypothesis, who programs the Universe?

Vopson’s research aims to confirm the hypothesis that all excess information is eliminated, just as a computer deletes or compresses information to save space or energy. With this, the physicist reinforces the idea that we will live in a simulation.

The next step is to confirm these findings experimentally, for example by testing whether bits detected in particle-antiparticle collisions would have atom-like mass.

Finally, if the hypothesis of a compressed and optimized simulation of the universe is confirmed, the next step will be to know who operates this deep and complex system.

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