3 ms·
The simulation we're living in simulates reality down to the Planck length, so maybe that's the answer.
by shiroiushi 3y ago
The simulation we're living in simulates reality down to the Planck length, so maybe that's the answer.
- atleastoptimal 3y agoWhat's the most intuitive explanation for why a Planck length exists?
- jajko 3y agoI don't think universe/reality bothers with whys. It just is, just like everything else, deal with it. But it does put an effective stop on those fantasies that reality is like an endless fractal.
- DexesTTP 3y agoTo simplify equations that create ratios between distance, time and energy. That's literally it. Using Planck units is a math trick to remove a bunch of constants from a bunch of equations. The Planck length doesn't really have any known physical importance, at least no more than a meter does. There's some things that happens around a planck length (for example, the current theories predict that black holes need to be at least bigger than a planck length to exist, or alternatively the Planck length is the point where the quantum uncertainty completely overtakes any other classical theory) but particles can "move" distances less than a planck length (with lots of caveats, mainly because quantum uncertainty makes the notion of "moving" in the classical sense kinda weird and barely applicable, but still, they _can_). A common belief is that the Planck length is kind of the "minimal distance" and start thinking that it's the "pixel of the universe" but there's no actual theoretical framework saying that. It's just a common misconception.
- GoblinSlayer 3y agoPlanck length is where quantum gravity overtakes a nonrelativistic theory, quantum stuff happens on a 25 orders of magnitude larger scale. For comparison: the universe is about as much bigger than you.
- exo-pla-net 3y agoThe Planck length is analogous to the pixel. Our parent universe has a much tinier Planck length, and hence it acts as an ultra high resolution monitor, on which it can fit all the pixels of our universe, as well as an abundance of parallel universe simulations, all displayed at the same monitor. Like our parent simulators, we will need to increase the Planck length for the simulations we create (i.e., reduce their resolutions), so that we can fit an abundance of simulations in our universe and carry on this important tradition. The grand monitor above us will take on a fractal appearance, with very tiny monitors displayed within it. The turtle on top of all of this — the tiniest possible monitor, rendered with the fewest conceivable pixels — our great-great-great granddaughter simulation — will be blocky Minecraft simulation. The people there will marvel that so much complexity can arise from so few "parts". Perhaps their superintelligence will be able to peel back the layers of their parent simulations to find our Hacker News comments, and their superintelligence will report back to them our words of wisdom. To them I say, "It wasn't easy, kids! Eat your vegetables."
- __loam 3y agoI hate that we're arrogant enough to make analogies like this.
- javaunsafe2019 3y agoYou just don’t get the joke
- kromem 3y agoYes, but that doesn't necessarily mean fidelity levels are recursive. At macro scales this reality behaves as if continuous. It's only at low fidelity levels, and specifically at points of interaction, that it becomes discrete. So if we are in a simulation, it seems to be one of a reality where real computing would have been possible. Given we almost certainly won't have access to real computers, it's unlikely we'll be simulating our own reality anywhere near as detailed as this one.
- wigster 3y agoi'm sure dark matter is a consequence by some efficiency boosting lazy instantiation routine in the sim! ;-)
- shiroiushi 3y agoNo, I think it's much more likely that dark matter is just a by-product of some very sloppy spaghetti coding.