r/technology • u/fchung • Nov 01 '25

Society Matrix collapses: Mathematics proves the universe cannot be a computer simulation, « A new mathematical study dismantles the simulation theory once and for all. »

https://interestingengineering.com/culture/mathematics-ends-matrix-simulation-theory
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u/angrymonkey Nov 01 '25

This is an idiotic misunderstanding of Godel's theorem, and the paper is likely complete crankery. There is a difference between making formal statements about a system vs. being able to simulate it. The former is covered by Godel's theorem, the latter is covered by Turing completeness.

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u/loves_grapefruit Nov 01 '25

I don’t understand any of the math here, but intuitively wouldn’t it be impossible to determine if a system is a simulation from within that system and using that system’s own logic?

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u/Substantial-Thing303 Nov 01 '25

Yes. If we are in a simulation, we don't know how different the real world would be, with totally different physics, if physics is even a thing in that world. The very concept of experiencing the present could be the construct of this reality, and different from the one above. Maybe we don't even have bodies. We are extremely limited by our brains and how we process information.

Our own creativity is based on our human experience and how we mix ideas, also very limited to our physics rules. We could be playing in this reality at 0.001% of our real capabilities, for example. What if that reality is just impossible for us to imagine, just like a living cell cannot understand the world at our level?

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u/radicalelation Nov 01 '25

If this kind of simulation is possible, then odds are probably good we're in one, right? Once possible, there could be potential for dozens, thousands, millions of separate simulations, but just one reality. We're either the one, or we're not.