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Is our universe the ultimate computer?

Whether we are simply characters in an advanced virtual world is a much-debated theory, challenging previous thinking about the universe and our existence.

The possibility that the entire universe is informational in nature and resembles a computational process is a popular theory among a number of well-known figures, including Elon Musk. The thinking comes from within a branch of science known as information physics, which suggests physical reality is actually made up of structured information.

In an article published in AIP Advances and included in the journal's "Editor's Picks," a physicist from the University of Portsmouth, Dr. Melvin Vopson, presents findings which indicate that gravity or gravitational force is the result of a computational process within the universe.

He suggests that gravity might actually be caused by how information about matter is organized in the universe. Using the second law of information dynamics, he indicates that matter and objects in space may be being pulled together because the universe is trying to keep information tidy and compressed.

Dr. Vopson said, "My findings in this study fit with the thought that the universe might work like a giant computer, or our reality is a simulated construct. Just like computers try to save space and run more efficiently, the universe might be doing the same. It's a new way to think about gravity—not just as a pull, but as something that happens when the universe is trying to stay organized."

Dr. Vopson has previously published research suggesting that information has mass and that all elementary particles—the smallest known building blocks of the universe—store information about themselves, similar to the way cells, the building blocks of biological entities, have DNA.

In this latest research, Dr. Vopson shows how space pixelation in elementary cells can act as a data storage medium, and demonstrates how the role of information stored in elementary cells is to provide the properties and the coordinates of matter in the space-time simulated construct. Each cell can register information in the form of binary data so if it is empty it registers a digital "0," and if matter is present in a cell it registers a digital "1."

Dr. Vopson added, "The process is identical to how a digital computer game, virtual reality application, or other advanced simulation would be designed."

He explains that as a cell can accommodate more than one particle, then the system will evolve itself by moving the particles in space to join them together into a single larger particle inside a single cell.

"This triggers the attracting force because of the rule set in the computational system, requiring the minimization of the information content, and by extension, a reduction of the computational power. Put simply, it is far more computationally effective to track and compute the location and momentum of a single object in space, than numerous objects. Therefore, it appears that the gravitational attraction is just another optimizing mechanism in a computational process that has the role to compress information."

This study presents a novel perspective on gravity, supporting the view that gravitational attraction arises due to a fundamental drive to reduce information entropy in the universe.

The results introduce distinct conceptual and methodological differences, and suggest that gravity serves as a computational optimization process, where matter self-organizes to minimize the complexity of information encoding within space-time.

The broader implications of this work extend to fundamental physics, including black-hole thermodynamics, dark matter and dark energy considerations, as well as potential connections between gravity and quantum information theory. Whether the universe is indeed a computational construct remains an open question.