Is life a computer program?

From the thread list 'If God Used a Computer......' dale21 suggests that God used a computer to design a program to create the earth and the stars.

I would like to know your opinions on the possibility that we ourselves are part of a computer program on an extremely powerful computer.

Could computers be that powerful?

No. In order to completely describe the universe the computer programme would have to hold more information than the universe.

Yes, don't you know that Earth is a computer created by mice?

We apoligize for the inconvience.

Originally posted by Bad wolf
From the thread list 'If God Used a Computer......' dale21 suggests that God used a computer to design a program to create the earth and the stars.

I would like to know your opinions on the possibility that we ourselves are part of a computer program on an extremely powerful computer.

Could computers be that powerful?

We are hard drives programmed by the software of culture 🙂

"No. In order to completely describe the universe the computer programme would have to hold more information than the universe."

Why is that a problem?

Originally posted by PotatoError
"No. In order to completely describe the universe the computer programme would have to hold more information than the universe."

Why is that a problem?

No it wouldn't.
It would only require the amount of information neccesary
to complete the memory of every animal that has ever lived.

In terms of HD space we could do that now.

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
No it wouldn't.
It would only require the amount of information neccesary
to complete the memory of every animal that has ever lived.

In terms of HD space we could do that now.

What about the movement of protons, the interaction of quarks, the spin of electrons, the radiation emitted in the blast of a white dwarf, the time between flashes of all the pulsar stars in existence now and throughout all time before? The information on the entire universe is a lot more than just the memory of animals. And we certainly don't have the hard disk space to record all of it.

Originally posted by Starrman
What about the movement of protons, the interaction of quarks, the spin of electrons, the radiation emitted in the blast of a white dwarf, the time between flashes of all the pulsar stars in existence now and throughout all time before? The information on the entire universe is a lot more than just the memory of animals. And we certainly don't have the hard disk space to record all of it.

All of this information exists as probabilities until it is
measured. The results of that information only exist
on paper, computers and in peoples minds.
As the paper and computer only exist in our minds
too then the only thing of consequence and hence the
only information required to create 'reality' is in our
minds. It's only a few terabytes per person really.

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
All of this information exists as probabilities until it is
measured. The results of that information only exist
on paper, computers and in peoples minds.
As the paper and computer only exist in our minds
too then the only thing of consequence and hence the
only information required to create 'reality' is in our
minds. It's only a few terabytes per person really.

Fair enough, but that isn't what was originally asked about. Your definition is not a complete assessment of the universe, but a selective one within the parameters of current human knowledge.

Also, if we are to actually do anything with this data beyond just store it, we need to know how it interacts as well. That would be impossible without a complete understanding of the universe beyond man's current perception.

Originally posted by Starrman
Fair enough, but that isn't what was originally asked about. Your definition is not a complete assessment of the universe, but a selective one within the parameters of current human knowledge.

Also, if we are to actually do anything with this data beyond just store it, we need to know how it interacts as well. That would be impossible without a complete understanding of the universe beyond man's current perception.

The idea that the information needs to interact
would imply that it is a computer program running
calculations in realtime.
I'm suggesting that it is not running along a
timeline at all but a complete history of life
stored as you would any data from start to finish.
Time is just an illusion.

The only data required would be sensory data
from all humans and animals.
It wouldn't take much space at all.

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
The idea that the information needs to interact
would imply that it is a computer program running
calculations in realtime.
I'm suggesting that it is not running along a
timeline at all but a complete history of life
stored as you would any data from start to finish.
Time is just an illusion.

The only data required would be sensory data
from all humans and animals.
It wouldn't take much space at all.

I agree if you limit the computer's function to a history of animal life there would be no problem with data storage.

Originally posted by Peter X
No. In order to completely describe the universe the computer programme would have to hold more information than the universe.

And of course, since the universe we are part of would, in this example, be that computer programme, the "true universe" (where the computer running us is) would be a much larger thing....

These are some very interesting opinions. 😀

Any thoughts on God using a computer.