Calm Down, Universe as a Simulation Is Mathematically Unimaginable

It’s more likely to come up round 3 a.m.— six beers or cups of unhealthy espresso later — in a protracted dialogue amongst frosh: Our universe is a simulation. Controlled by clever aliens little question…

Yeah, identical to within the Terminator sequence. Skynet, you realize…

Yeah, Skynet…

Go to Bed

At Science Daily, the University of British Columbia (Okanagan) reports that new analysis means that the concept the universe is a simulation is mathematically unattainable.

By making use of superior mathematical rules, together with Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, they proved that any constant and full mannequin of existence requires what they name “non-algorithmic understanding.”

To grasp this concept, think about how a pc works — it follows a set of outlined directions step-by-step. Yet, some truths exist that can not be reached by following any sequence of logical operations. These are referred to as “Gödelian truths,” and whereas they’re actual, they can’t be confirmed utilizing computation. 

“Physicists prove the Universe isn’t a simulation after all,” November 10, 2025

Mathematician Kurt Gödel (1906–1978), who originated the thought the researchers are referring to, destroyed an vital department of materialist atheism (logical positivism). The authors supply an instance of his pondering:

Consider the assertion, “This true statement is not provable.” If it had been provable, it could be false, contradicting logic. If it can’t be confirmed, then it’s true, which suggests any logical system making an attempt to show it’s incomplete. In both case, computation alone falls quick.

“We have demonstrated that it is impossible to describe all aspects of physical reality using a computational theory of quantum gravity,” says Dr. Faizal. “Therefore, no physically complete and consistent theory of everything can be derived from computation alone. Rather, it requires a non-algorithmic understanding, which is more fundamental than the computational laws of quantum gravity and therefore more fundamental than spacetime itself.” 

“Isn’t a simulation”

We Don’t Often Hear Physicists Arguing for Plato’s Universe …

But occasions are altering:

The workforce’s findings relaxation on the evolving understanding of what actuality really is. Physics has moved far past Isaac Newton’s view of strong objects shifting via house. Einstein’s principle of relativity changed that classical mannequin, and quantum mechanics remodeled it but once more. Now, on the forefront of theoretical physics, quantum gravity proposes that even house and time usually are not basic components. Instead, they come up from one thing deeper — pure data.

Physicists describe this informational layer as a “Platonic realm,” a mathematical basis extra actual than the bodily world we understand. According to the brand new analysis, it’s from this realm that house and time themselves emerge. 

“Isn’t a simulation”

This isn’t the materialist view we’re accustomed to listening to:

Co-author Dr. Lawrence M. Krauss notes that the implications of this discovering prolong deep into the foundations of physics. “The fundamental laws of physics cannot be contained within space and time, because they generate them. It has long been hoped, however, that a truly fundamental theory of everything could eventually describe all physical phenomena through computations grounded in these laws. Yet we have demonstrated that this is not possible. A complete and consistent description of reality requires something deeper — a form of understanding known as non-algorithmic understanding.” 

“Isn’t a simulation”

Information and Intelligent Design

Some folks can be shocked to search out one of many authors, Lawrence Krauss, espousing such a place, given his past reflections. The concept that data underlies the universe is suitable with the very clever design principle he has opposed up to now.

From the open entry paper:

… Gödel’s incompleteness theorems , Tarski’s undefinability theorem, and Chaitin’s information-theoretic incompleteness set up intrinsic limits on any such algorithmic program. Together, these outcomes indicate {that a} wholly algorithmic “Theory of Everything’’ is unattainable: sure aspects of actuality will stay computationally undecidable and might be accessed solely via non-algorithmic understanding . We formalize this by establishing a “Meta-Theory of Everything’’ grounded in non-algorithmic understanding, exhibiting the way it can account for undecidable phenomena and demonstrating that the breakdown of computational descriptions of nature doesn’t entail a breakdown of science. Because any putative simulation of the universe would itself be algorithmic, this framework additionally implies that the universe can’t be a simulation. 

Mir Faizal, Lawrence M Krauss, Arshid Shabir, Francesco Marino. Consequences of Undecidability in Physics on the Theory of Everything. Journal of Holography Applications in Physics, 5(2), 10-21 DOI: 10.22128/jhap.2025.1024.1118“

If Ideas Are Real, Too, as Plato Believed

At Science Alert, Michelle Starr notes, “A question that has vexed physicists for the past century may finally have a solution — but perhaps not the one everyone was hoping for.” She explains,

Using these logical theorems, the researchers discover that physics itself can’t be totally computable. They suggest that the one option to resolve a Theory of Everything is so as to add a non-algorithmic layer above the algorithmic one to create a Meta Theory of Everything, or MToE.

This meta-layer would have the ability to decide what’s true from outdoors the mathematical system, giving scientists a option to examine phenomena such because the black gap data paradox with out violating mathematical guidelines.

And, after all, it places to mattress that pesky downside of whether or not we’re really “real”. 

“Physicists Just Ruled Out The Universe Being a Simulation,” November 1, 2025

Yes. We are actual and Skynet isn’t. 

Well, okay, wait. Skynet is actual — within the sense that it’s an thought in somebody’s head that grew to become a well-liked film franchise. So concepts and films are each actual, simply in numerous methods.

Notice, we appear a great distance now from the once-dominant science view of eliminative materialism wherein philosophers argued that human consciousness was not even actual. If data underlies the universe, there isn’t any level to claiming that any extra.

Cross-posted at Mind Matters News.