In March 1999, the movie "The Matrix" was released on the cinema screens, which immediately became a cult. In it, in an action-packed form and using revolutionary special effects, a strange idea was substantiated: what if the world around us is virtual reality created by powerful artificial intelligence? The idea captivated many, but some thought: maybe the filmmakers are not so far from the truth?
Solipsism options
Turning points make you want to rethink the past and fantasize about the future. The notorious millennium was no exception - the transition to the new millennium, which was associated with January 1, 2000 (although in reality 2000 was not the first year of the new millennium, but the last year of the outgoing).
At that time, apocalyptic concepts of the end of the world and the end of history became fashionable. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the half-forgotten philosophical concept outlined in the film "The Matrix" gained incredible popularity just then.
The concept of Maya, that is, the a priori illusory nature of the surrounding world, has been discussed by philosophers for a very long time. It acquired an extremely radical form in the form of solipsism, the foundations of which were laid out in the early 18th century by the Parisian physician Claude Brunet. Supporters of solipsism believe that the only reality that reliably exists for any of us is our inner world.
Although many critics of solipsism equate it with either extreme egoism or full-fledged insanity, there is a healthy grain in the very formulation of the question. It is well known that personal perception is unique and changeable, depends on many factors, so we can never be sure that information that comes from the outside world is perceived by all people in the same way.
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An obvious example is color blindness. There are color blind people who do not distinguish colors, and there are those who, on the contrary, see shades of color where normal people define only one. Which of us is closer to true reality? And is there then true reality?
It is clear that the film "The Matrix" is only an artistic image. But he prompted scientists to reflect on the disturbing question of the relationship between the illusory and the real in our world. The answer was unexpected.
Our whole life is a game?
"Brain in a Flask" is a classic thought experiment used by modern philosophers to discuss aspects of the perception of being. Its essence is as follows: let's imagine that a certain scientist managed to remove the human brain without damage and put it in a flask with a nutrient solution.
In this case, the neurons of the experimental brain are connected to a computer that generates electrical impulses identical to those that the brain would receive while in the body. Thus, the person who owns the brain, despite the absence of a body, will still be aware of himself as existing and comprehending the world around him.
Since the impulses that neurons receive are the only opportunity for any person to interact with the surrounding reality, from the point of view of the brain there is no way to guarantee with certainty whether it is in the skull or in the bulb. Consequently, most beliefs in objective reality are by definition false.
Rich Terrill of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who helped build interplanetary vehicles, used the Brain in a Flask experiment to provide a highly original view of the universe. The scientist believes that we are all inside some "Divine" computer, and our personalities are a product of the work of artificial intelligence.
In substantiating his theory, Rich Terrill recalls the law of Gordon Moore, who observed that the computing power of computers doubles every two years. At this rate, within 30 years, 100 million computers will be able to simulate all human lives with all thought processes and impressions. If this becomes possible, then why not assume that this has already happened once, and we, with all our sensations, are part of a working computer program?
Rich Terrill argues that unlike the Brain in a Flask experiment, there is a way to prove the world is illusory.
“Like all scientists, we explain physical processes by mathematical equations. Because of this mathematics, the behavior of the universe is extremely diverse. Einstein said: “The eternal mystery of the world is its cognizability. The very fact of this cognizability seems to be a miracle. The universe should not work according to laws and equations, which can be easily reduced to several pages, and, therefore, can be modeled …
Another interesting feature of this world is that it behaves just like the reality of the computer game Grand Theft Auto. While playing, you can explore the gaming city of Liberty City in phenomenal detail for as long as you like. I calculated how huge this city is - it turned out that it is millions of times more than my game console can accommodate. You see exactly what you need to see in the city at the moment, shrinking an entire metropolis to the size of a console. The universe behaves the same way.
In quantum mechanics, particles do not have a specific state if they are not observed at the moment. Many theorists have spent a great deal of time trying to explain this. One of the explanations is that we live in a simulation, seeing what we should see at the moment someone needs it."
Quantum Matrix
Rich Terrill's theory seems crazy, but it was unexpectedly supported by leading physicists.
At the beginning of the 21st century, renowned scientist Seth Lloyd made an estimate of the entire computing power of the universe, which he views as a huge computer performing endless calculations at the quantum level. It turned out that for a complete simulation of our entire reality from the moment of the Big Bang to the present time, a machine with a memory of 1,090 bits is required, which will have to perform 10,120 logical operations.
Seth Lloyd
The numbers look monstrous, but the same Lloyd calculated the maximum power of a computer with a mass of one kilogram and a volume of one cubic decimeter - it turned out that such an amount of matter can perform about 1,050 operations per second. Therefore, based on the power of such a "limiting" computer, then the simulation of the universe does not seem too fantastic. Seth Lloyd also resorted to Moore's Law and established that the entire Universe could be modeled in 250 years - a negligible period by historical standards.
Further more. In October 2012, physicists Silas Bean, Zohre Davoudi and Martin Savage published an article in which they outlined considerations about the possibilities of scientifically proving the virtuality of the universe. To do this, they tried to imagine how the laws of the virtual world will differ from the laws of the present.
First of all, they determined the "simulation limit" (the physical limit at which hypothetical "divine" programmers would stop), showing that a femtometer (10-15 meters) would be sufficient.
Then they themselves modeled a local piece of space - the super-powerful computer at their disposal was enough for a model ranging in size from 2.5 to 5.8 femtometers. At the next stage, physicists calculated the time required to create a complete model of the universe: they got 410 years, that is, not much more than Seth Lloyd's.
And here - attention! - the most interesting: on the basis of their calculations, scientists predicted that in such a simulation of the Universe, the effect of a cutoff in the spectrum of cosmic rays of certain energies will be observed. And such a cliff, described as the Greisen - Zatsepin - Kuzmin limit”, really exists in our world!
Can it be considered proven that we live inside a computer model created by some older and much more powerful civilization? Not yet, because the existence of the Greisen - Zatsepin - Kuzmin limit is disputed. New research and more precise instruments are needed.
And we should always remember: even if the illusory nature of our world is ever established, we are unlikely to be able to get out of the virtual universe into the real one. However, at the same time we will acquire such wonderful abilities that the characters of the movie "The Matrix" could not even dream of.
Anton PERVUSHIN