Could the universe be mapped out in binary code

[edscdk]

This, you would get into trouble when you realise atoms can be in more than 1 place at a time.

I alway think (however have no training or background) that this must be caused by the atoms / photons / what ever moving into another higher dimension and back out again, allowing instant travel (as we see it) between two points, as in the 2d world peice of paper / pencil thought exercise.

When 2 photons are entangled and properties are sent from one to the other faster than the speed of light it says to me that the information transfer must be happening via another dimension.

( I don't realyl know anything but its what pops into my mind when ilogical things like 1 atom two places and entanglement are talked about)

 

[Dj_Jestar]

You're right; I was just being pedantic

Storing it on some device is of course pointless, self-defeating (unless the device is "outside" the universe), and beside the point of the OP's question, which was hypothetical rather than concerned with technicalities.

It'd be possible to map it (ignoring quantum stuff until we understand/know how to observe it! ), but you'd have to "forget" where you "were", and "recreate" where you are "going" as you traverse the map. Kind of like reading the number on a really long measuring tape, you draw the tape through your hands/fingers, but will have to let go of the numbers you've already looked at in order to proceed, as your arm span is only so wide Or a reading a book, you forget the words on the previous pages, and read the current page.

 

[Inquisitor]

I alway think (however have no training or background) that this must be caused by the atoms / photons / what ever moving into another higher dimension and back out again, allowing instant travel (as we see it) between two points, as in the 2d world peice of paper / pencil thought exercise.

The phenomenon is called quantum indeterminacy, and it's more accurate to say that the atom isn't actually anywhere in particular until it's observed. At that point it confines itself to a smaller region of space (though due to the HUP it still doesn't have a precisely determined position).

The same goes for photons, although because we know their velocity precisely (the speed of light, obviously), the HUP precludes any knowledge at all of where a photon is at any given point in time, which is why photons can't be observed directly. Consequently they can only be described in terms of the paths that they take.

 

[Crowort]

I think you will find that with a hologram each part no matter how small has all the information of the whole, much like our own DNA.

You'll likely not even read this but I couldn't get back sooner as I've been in hospital all week, I don't understand it but the name doesn't really have anything to do with holograms as we think of them I don't think. I only added the name incase someone was smart / interested enough to read about the idea. I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to understand these things in any meaningful way. I doubt I'd ever true understand much more than the overview of this theory.

 

[kwerk]

You'll likely not even read this but I couldn't get back sooner as I've been in hospital all week, I don't understand it but the name doesn't really have anything to do with holograms as we think of them I don't think. I only added the name incase someone was smart / interested enough to read about the idea. I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to understand these things in any meaningful way. I doubt I'd ever true understand much more than the overview of this theory.

I looked it up and the binary/hologram thing fits together.

If you have a few hours spare you can watch some lectures on quantum entanglement and binary and so forth by Susskind (the guy who came up with the hologram theory) at Stanford:

I like his theory a lot better than Hawkings or anyone else.

 

[tom91x91]

i totally understand everything in this thread

 

[Parsifal]

Would it be theoretically possible to map out the entire universe in binary code? Could every single movement of every particle be simplified to an incredibly long series of 1/0 results?

And if it IS possible, then wouldn't this information already exist? As the universe itself??

Where the hell is the information being stored??

Firstly, there is no "information" in matter - information is in your own understanding. The universe itself, just is: matter exists independently of the mind.

What you are probably thinking of is the idea of the "clockwork universe": that, if all atoms and their physical properties were known, then the entire future of the universe could be predicted. However, it is a fallacy.

Also you are touching on the idea of how we get out knowledge about the universe. This is called "Epistemology" in Philosophy. You might want to read about that on Wikipedia.

 

[D.P.]

No.

Think about it. Assume the smallest particle in the universe is an atom and there are 1 million of them. Assuming we could even map a bit (1 or 0) on an atom then it would take the entire universe just to store the data. This is even without information which pertains to mass, acceleration charge and what not.

So no it can't be done unless you could devise a device which can store more information in less space than the smallest particle.

Nothing stops you using loss-less compression and generating functions. Most of the universe is pretty repetitive