Bit 2 It

"An idea that is not dangerous, is unworthy of being called an idea at all."  - Oscar Wilde

In an earlier post, Simulism: The Science of Holodecks, and again in Ammonia Avenue, we briefly discussed the concept of Universe building and Nick Bostrom's theory of Simulism. Let's unpack these concepts a bit more and explore some of their implications.

First, we must dive headfirst into physicist Max Tegmark's research into the mathematical universe hypothesis (MUH) and the computable universe hypothesis (CUH). To say that the universe is mathematical is not a controversial statement. To say that the universe is a real-time expression of mathematic functions, giving rise to the illusory phenomena we call reality is a horse of a different color. The implications of the MUH are indeed staggering. 

D-Wave system quantum computer (QC). The D-Wave 2000Q has 2,000 quantum bits. NOTE: While this is technically a quantum computer, it is not the kind of device described in this article.

Assuming the validity of the Church-Turing-Deutsch hypothesis (CTD), it can be stated that the universe is a computable system (as long as quantum physics can accurately describe every physical process.) So far it appears that the former statement is indeed true. Given a sufficiently advanced quantum computer (QC) (or QC network) and a device that could effectively simulate all processes within the universe, it should be possible to predict a nearly infinite number of pathways into the future and decode the past. Furthermore, with sufficient power available (and the technology required to control it) that same system should be able to edit the universe in real-time, create a restore point or recreate an entire copy of the universe at any point in time and with any particular set of values (this is largely tied to the laws of nature; ie Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics, which is also tied to the initial conditions which existed as the universe was formed.)