Physicist Testing To See If We Live In The Matrix
What is the Matrix? This was the famous question at the beginning of The Matrix Trilogy. Throughout its three films that question would get redefined again and again. How far off were the Wachowskis – in terms of the idea of existence is merely a computer program – when they made The Matrix in 1999? According to a University of Washington physicist, not very far off at all.
Physicist Martin Savage believes that The Matrix may be closer to scientific fact than fiction. Savage has theorized the existence of computer simulation so powerful and advanced that it is literally running a simulation of our Universe at this moment, just like in The Matrix Trilogy. Savage explains…
…if humans did develop enough time to perform numerical simulations of ourselves and we didn’t nuke ourselves before getting there then it’s more than likely we are a numerical simulation ourselves.
According to Savage, the only way to test out his theory is to wait for computers to get as powerful as the one he suggested in his theory. Once he gets enough “computer time,” he can run a simulation of the Universe from the beginning of time until the moment he started the simulation. Savage believes this will take decades of computer technology and advancements before he can obtain a computer powerful enough to run this test.
I think there’s no suggestion it looks anything like Keanu Reeves finding the Matrix, but one of the deep questions we have to continue to ask ourselves is what does our universe look like at very high energies and how do quantum mechanics and general relativity come together.
It’s an infinite loop of theories and hypotheses. The point of this is not to be proven right but to formulate imagination. Yes, this feels more like the cross section of philosophy, science fiction, and hard science. It’s not clear if Savage is serious or if he actually believes we all live in The Matrix. When asked “what was the point to all of this?” Savage answered…
If you get there, you could actually make predictions for the future, possibly.
