Sources and Resources
Pixabay image credit
Information as the fifth state of matter
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/information-energy-mass-equivalence/amp/
Are we living in a simulation?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/?amp=true
It has become almost cliché to hear people compare our reality to a simulation or timeline. As our computer technology advances, it becomes a valid question as to which layer of reality we exist on. Are we simulated beings on a computer of unthinkable processing power, or is this the universe created by the big bang? Such a question is worthy of our time.
Popular culture from the Metaverse to the Matrix have caused scientists and philosophers to ponder the idea that we live in a simulated universe. Could we be experiments created to emulate past times? How could we possibly figure out the answer to this question, especially given the technology and effort required to create the simulation. If there were a simulation we were living inside of, it would have been crafted by beings so advanced they would have thought of everything to keep the integrity of the experiment, right?
As we continue to advance in our computing power, we may discover some underpinnings of the simulated universe. Quantum computers use qubits and the phenomenon of quantum entanglement to solve problems. If we are entering the quantum computer era now, could we not conceivably simulate the universe in ten thousand years?
It has been proposed that information is the fifth state of matter. If we live in the “base layer” reality, our reality in the universe was caused when the energy released after the big bang became matter. Particles became atoms, the clumpiness of the universe created star and galaxies and a host of other heavenly bodies. A recent theory by Melvin Vopson, a physicist, is that information has mass and is the fifth state of matter. There is a relationship between information, mass and energy that necessitates that all particles store information. Information becomes gamma rays and infrared when impacted by particles due to its mass, and an experiment has been devised to measure this.
If Melvin is correct in his assumption that information has mass, no matter how small, then we could conceivably be in a simulation. Each particle would have an encoded information aspect that could provide more evidence that it was coded to act or respond in a certain manner. Time will tell as more experiments are conducted.
Cross posted on Hive.