Science investigates whether the universe is an illusion

Casual conversation between friends. Anything goes (almost).
Post Reply
Individual
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:20 am

Science investigates whether the universe is an illusion

Post by Individual »

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breakin ... -universe/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In 2008, Fermilab particle astrophysicist Craig Hogan made waves with a mind-boggling proposition: The 3D universe in which we appear to live is no more than a hologram. Now he is building the most precise clock of all time to directly measure whether our reality is an illusion.

The idea that spacetime may not be entirely smooth – like a digital image that becomes increasingly pixelated as you zoom in – had been previously proposed by Stephen Hawking and others. Possible evidence for this model appeared last year in the unaccountable “noise” plaguing the GEO600 experiment in Germany, which searches for gravitational waves from black holes. To Hogan, the jitteriness suggested that the experiment had stumbled upon the lower limit of the spacetime pixels’ resolution.

...
The rest of the article is at the link above.

I did some searching and found a video where they were talking about what the universe actually looks like, when you zoom in as much as possible (to the depth of Planck's constant).

And this is what the scientists found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1WWpKEPdT4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
User avatar
catmoon
Former staff member
Posts: 3423
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:20 am
Location: British Columbia

Re: Science investigates whether the universe is an illusion

Post by catmoon »

The latter link, which is playing in the background now, seems to conclusively establish a startling conclusion. If the image is pixellated due to extreme magnification and the inherent graininess of spacetime, then there is only a single possible logical result.


Rick Astley's brain is on the order of 10 E-43 meter across.
Sergeant Schultz knew everything there was to know.
Post Reply

Return to “Lounge”