Computing a Universe Simulation

Physics seems to be telling us that it’s possible to simulate the entire universe on a computer smaller than the universe. Space Time Challenge Winners Jin Du Loren Booker Kevin Selva Prasanna May Awbin John Reza Ian Grams Challenge Winners: Please PBSspacetime@gmail.com with your name, address, US t-shirt size – small, medium, large, extra large, or extra-extra-large and let us know which T you’d like. Get your own Space Time t­-shirt at Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com Comment on Reddit: Help translate our videos! Previous Episode: How to Detect Extra Dimensions Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Luke Maroldi Assistant Editing and Sound Design by Mike Petrow Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com) I’m not saying the universe is a simulation. I mean it might be – I’m just not saying it. And perhaps it doesn’t make any difference. Even if this is the prime, the original physical universe, rather than somewhere deep in a simulation nest, we can STILL think of our universe’s underlying mechanics as computation. Imagine a universe in which the most elementary components are stripped of all properties besides some binary notion of existence or non-existence. Like, if the tiniest chunks of spacetime, or chunks of quantum fields, or elements in the abstract space of quantum-mechanical states can either be full or empty. These elements interact with their neighbors by a simple set of rules, leading to oscillations, elementary particles, atoms, and ultimately to all of the emergent laws of physics, physical structure, and ultimately the universe. Big Bang Justin Lloyd Anton Lifshits CoolAsCats David Nicklas Fabrice Eap Quasar Dean Fuqua Mark Rosenthal Mayank M. Mehrota Roman Pinchuk Tambe Barsbay Vinnie Falco Hypernova Brent Mullins Chuck Zegar Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner John Hofmann Jordan Young Joseph Salomone Matthew O’Connor Ratfeast Alexander Rodriguez Alexey Eromenko Benoit Pagé-Guitard Brandon Cook Brandon Labonte Daniel Lyons David Crane Deborah Whittaker Fabian Olesen Greg Allen Greg Weiss James Flowers James Hughes JJ Bagnell Jon Folks Kevin Warne Malte Ubl Mark Vasile Nicholas Rose Nick Virtue Scott Gossett Shannan Catalano سلطان الخليفي