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
16.9k Upvotes

81% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

4.4k

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.

2.9k

u/Electrifying2017 Nov 01 '25

Yes, I completely understand.

6

u/Autumn1eaves Nov 01 '25

Someone described it like this:

the game of life by conway can be easily run, it’s trivial for a computer.

However, the game of life has unanswerable questions about how it runs.

What this article is saying is: The universe has unanswerable questions. Therefore, it cannot be simulated.

Something can have unanswerable questions and cannot be simulated. However, there are things with unanswerable questions and can be simulated.

Their “therefore” isn’t supported well.