Universe creation on a computer
Section snippets
The epistemology of universe creation on a computer
Tipler has suggested that our universe could be a computer program running on a computer in another universe (see, for example, Tipler (1989, pp. 240–244) and Tipler (1995, pp. 206–209)). Tipler imagines a perfect computer simulation of our universe, which precisely matches the evolution in time of our own universe, and precisely represents every property of every entity in our universe. Such a simulation would simulate all the people who exist in our own universe. Such simulated people,
The metaphysics of universe creation on a computer
The hypothesis that our universe is a program running on a computer in another universe is not merely a sceptical epistemological hypothesis, but a metaphysical hypothesis, in the sense defined below.
The term ‘metaphysics’ seems to have at least two different meanings. On the one hand, it is the study of that which possibly exists beyond the physical world. On the other hand, it is a whole group of philosophical subjects, such as the studies of time, causation, substance, and universals. These
Deriving empirical predictions from the metaphysical hypothesis
This section proposes that Tipler's metaphysical hypothesis that our universe is a program running on a digital computer, entails that:
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the universe is discrete;
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the solutions to the fundamental evolution equations of physics must be computable functions;
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the spatial universe has compact topology.
These predictions are empirically testable, hence Tipler's metaphysical computer program hypothesis is empirically testable. It will be demonstrated in this section that Tipler's computer program
Supervenience, identity, and universe creation on a computer
The suggestion that a physical system can be perfectly simulated on a computer is consistent with the principle of supervenience, but suggests that a physical system can be realised on more than one medium. Suppose, for example, that a tornado could be perfectly simulated on a computer. A tornado is described by a solution of the Navier–Stokes equations.14
A digital computer simulation of a universe cannot exist as a universe
A digital computer simulation of a physical system cannot exist as (does not possess the properties and relationships of), anything else other than a physical process occurring upon the components of a computer. In the contemporary case of an electronic digital computer, a simulation cannot exist as anything else other than an electronic physical process occurring upon the components and circuitry of a computer. The following argument will be deployed to establish this conclusion:
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A digital
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