Software modeling for research in evolution of species was always an area of interest for me. It
becomes quite easy and convincing for a researcher when he can apply and
see the results of various Strategy used by different species from
bacteria to human beings years after years.
If we can simulate the origin and
ancient behaviors of species in software then what will happen if we
can simulate the origin of universe (Big-Bang) in a super computer? Ya i got it ! we never gonna have the luxury of this kind of computing power, but this blog is all about i can think:) so lets have a hypothesis that we have ample computation and storage power to process this kind of data and a fairly accurate idea and data about Big-Bang itself.
And then if we simulate each bit of
that data in computer software and let it took its own life, Is it
possible for it to grow and become a virtual universe like ourselves
or some smaller version of it? Sounds a crazy idea. How is it possible
to simulate something like distance, temperature ,speed and specially
time in computer environment in a way that it feels real for virtual
universe?
Well the answer may not be as complex as question itself. All we need to do is to recognize basic particles (participants) of universe. And as our physicists are trying hard to prove almost everything is just some kind of transformation of one singular thing. So perhaps somewhere in distant future our knowledge of universe will be good enough that we will be able to list a small set (Not so small perhaps) of building blocks of our infinite universe and the rules which governs them.
Already assuming about infinite computation power, the next questions which remains un-answered is that how will we actually simulate physical quantities like distance
temperature and speed of objects and what about time? Will we be able
to run this kind of experiment for billions of years
which is the time our universe took to grow as we see it today? The
answer is “NO”. Neither we can run an experiment for that long
time nor we need to do that, because time In our virtual universe
will be only loosely coupled with actual time we feel. With enough
computation power, hundreds of years in virtual universe can pass in a
second in real one while making virtual universe feel that actual
hundreds of years are passed. It will be like fast forwarding a
movie, while viewer outside television screen can forward two hours of movie in some seconds, All characters inside the movie will do everything
they are supposed to do, The villain will still die and Lovers will
still meet eventually.
So how the time will behave inside?
Answer is simple “As it behaves in our own universe, we are
creating a simulation after all!” But it will not be tightly coupled with
our universe so we will still be able to get that fast forward
effect.
But some important issues remains.
Actual implementation of all physical quantities inside a software In a way that they can interact together is still a big hurdle. After
all we cannot create an optical fiber wire long enough that it is
able to simulate a photon travelling for a year , Leave all those
million billion travelling of photons and cosmos. But once we will
look closely we will be able to understand that all those physical
quantities are not so physical in our own universe too. For example we
already know that time travel can happen even if only tiny particles
can do it actually.with the help of enough gravitational power, space can be bend such a way that you can reach from one
point of universe to other without travelling actual three
dimensional distance between them , The famous formula of E=MC^2 already tells us that matter
and energy are same. So what is the physical truth if all of known things are not?
In my opinion they are physical rules. I agree that we don't really understand the behavior of all these physical rules once we reach the absolute beginning of universe, but once physical things come to existence all rules work perfectly, in fact Properties (read physical rules apply to them) are the only thing which distinguish everything in universe from matter to energy time to space. And once we are able to bend the rule of distance between two points in space with the help of ample gravitation power (another physical rule) the distance rule is simply nullified and you can travel between two points without actually travelling the distance !! So perhaps it was not actual distance which was making these two points far apart. It was that location inside universe rule which tells that if you are at some specific point at universe then you are 2 light years apart from another point. Of course one more physical rule time comes at consideration here.
The intention from paragraphs above is not to discuss that how
universe actually work or to understand physics in detail but to understand that things may not be as physical or actual as we
perceive them. So lets get back to our original question
“Implementation of physical quantities in virtual universe ".
Having learnt that everything may not be as real as we perceive, we can opt for same approach as taken by our universe. All software specialists and some others here must know virtues of object oriented programming. Objects in this are replica of real world objects, like a software object of a car will have an engine, make, color, driving wheel and everything a car should have . some of you who don’t understand the term properly can think of car race video game where there are some cars, drivers, tracks, race, buildings, and accidents too. If a car will hit a wall it will break, while neither wall nor car exist in physical reality. So an easiest race game should be look like this in computer software:
“ There will be an object of a car, an object of race track, and an object of wall. Car and wall both have their positions decided in race track at beginning subsequently there distance. Now car have the property that it can travel the race track and if it does that it will change its location at race track subsequently its distance from wall and if it come too close that both of their locations at race track overlap. Boom its an accident! which is of course ruled by some other rules like speed of car, energy generated by etc. Although nothing of this happened in reality but both objects (Car and wall) in our virtual race track felt this and get damaged due to that. They never collide anywhere because they never existed physically but rules applied to them in that race track version of our universe and the numbers stored in computer memory which represents them as well as their other properties like speed and location not only affects them but also damaged them, in other terms harm or manipulated their other property like its shape and work ability after accident.
If we somehow manage to simulate all these participating objects of universe and there properties in computer environment and then let it take its own life we may see something jaw dropping. Actually this method is already used in various research labs around the globe, although at much higher level.
And if this crazy idea get successful then one fine day a planet called earth will born inside virtual world and then the life itself. We the gods of this virtual life will be able to see it growing from bacteria to animals to something like humans. Now that was the key point behind all this background. will any of those intelligent virtual humans will be able understand that they are living in a virtual universe? that everything they can see and feel is actually nothing but some crap data of a computer? and all there existence can actually vanish just by a power failure in our world? the answer is of course "NO". Bound by all those physical rules they can be able to understand how that virtual universe work internally, but they will never be able to know that all this is just virtual. none of there senses and nothing available in that universe will be able to sense outside there virtual world. They will see there world exactly the same we do, and will not be able to imagine that all there existence is nothing but some bits of data. With all physical rules implemented correctly no one in virtual universe will be able to see the truth. they will perceive it as real as we do.
Even one would be able to pause the program and run at there own will, residents of our virtual universe will never feel the difference because the time between pause and start would be like no time for them. there own time will stop after all:) And what will happen if someday power actually fails? well nothing if we continually save all the data, we can just restart the program from same point again. No one will feel the difference, And If some data is lost then the poor souls will have to live the life after last backup again because of there God's mistake:)
Well all this applies to us too. This was just a wild thought but we and our universe can actually be lot more different then we can think. Lets stop here, Take a brake and enjoy the life before our god suddenly decide to shut down the PC :)
Having learnt that everything may not be as real as we perceive, we can opt for same approach as taken by our universe. All software specialists and some others here must know virtues of object oriented programming. Objects in this are replica of real world objects, like a software object of a car will have an engine, make, color, driving wheel and everything a car should have . some of you who don’t understand the term properly can think of car race video game where there are some cars, drivers, tracks, race, buildings, and accidents too. If a car will hit a wall it will break, while neither wall nor car exist in physical reality. So an easiest race game should be look like this in computer software:
“ There will be an object of a car, an object of race track, and an object of wall. Car and wall both have their positions decided in race track at beginning subsequently there distance. Now car have the property that it can travel the race track and if it does that it will change its location at race track subsequently its distance from wall and if it come too close that both of their locations at race track overlap. Boom its an accident! which is of course ruled by some other rules like speed of car, energy generated by etc. Although nothing of this happened in reality but both objects (Car and wall) in our virtual race track felt this and get damaged due to that. They never collide anywhere because they never existed physically but rules applied to them in that race track version of our universe and the numbers stored in computer memory which represents them as well as their other properties like speed and location not only affects them but also damaged them, in other terms harm or manipulated their other property like its shape and work ability after accident.
If we somehow manage to simulate all these participating objects of universe and there properties in computer environment and then let it take its own life we may see something jaw dropping. Actually this method is already used in various research labs around the globe, although at much higher level.
And if this crazy idea get successful then one fine day a planet called earth will born inside virtual world and then the life itself. We the gods of this virtual life will be able to see it growing from bacteria to animals to something like humans. Now that was the key point behind all this background. will any of those intelligent virtual humans will be able understand that they are living in a virtual universe? that everything they can see and feel is actually nothing but some crap data of a computer? and all there existence can actually vanish just by a power failure in our world? the answer is of course "NO". Bound by all those physical rules they can be able to understand how that virtual universe work internally, but they will never be able to know that all this is just virtual. none of there senses and nothing available in that universe will be able to sense outside there virtual world. They will see there world exactly the same we do, and will not be able to imagine that all there existence is nothing but some bits of data. With all physical rules implemented correctly no one in virtual universe will be able to see the truth. they will perceive it as real as we do.
Even one would be able to pause the program and run at there own will, residents of our virtual universe will never feel the difference because the time between pause and start would be like no time for them. there own time will stop after all:) And what will happen if someday power actually fails? well nothing if we continually save all the data, we can just restart the program from same point again. No one will feel the difference, And If some data is lost then the poor souls will have to live the life after last backup again because of there God's mistake:)
Well all this applies to us too. This was just a wild thought but we and our universe can actually be lot more different then we can think. Lets stop here, Take a brake and enjoy the life before our god suddenly decide to shut down the PC :)
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