Monday, May 28, 2012

Tom Campbell: Why Reality is a Computed Simulation

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Is the Universe a Virtual Reality?


Why Reality is a Computed Simulation Tom Campbell, the author of My Big TOE (Theory of Everything) takes you on a fast ride in the short video below. Campbell explains why our so-called objective reality is actually a virtual reality. The graphic shown in the video is a table from Brian Whitworth. A similar and more concise table from his 2007 paper, The Physical World as a Virtual Reality, is below the video. One of Whitworth's conclusions was, "if the Universe is virtual then so are we". As Campbell notes, Whitworth concluded that only a virtual reality fits all the physical data and therefore is the only logical conclusion as to the nature of our reality. Ultimately, reality is information and what our consciousness interprets to be our reality is digital data. I'll go one further and say life, including humans, are software installed on a biological platform.

Why Reality is a Computed Simulation Words from NASA/DoD physicist Thomas Campbell, author of "My Big TOE"



The Physical World as a Virtual Reality: Brian Whitworth

Table 1. Virtual properties and physical outcomes

Virtual Property, Physical Outcome

Virtual Reality Creation Virtual worlds must begin with an information influx from “nothing”, that also begins VR time/ space.
The Big Bang The universe was created out of nothing by a “big bang” in a single event that also created time and space.

Digital Processing All events/objects that arise from digital processing must have a minimum quantity or quanta.
Quantum Minima Light is quantized as photons. Matter, energy, time, and space may be the same, i.e. have a minimum amount.

Maximum Processing Rate Events in a VR world must have a maximum rate, limited by a finite processor.
Light Speed The speed of light is a fixed maximum for our universe, and nothing in our space-time can move faster.

Non-local Effects A computer processor is equidistance to all screen “pixels”, so its effects can be “non-local” with respect to its screen.
Wave Function Collapse The quantum wave function collapse is non-local - entangled photons on opposite sides of the universe may instantly conform to its requirements.

Processing Load Effects If a virtual processing network is overloaded, its processing outputs must be reduced.
Matter and Speed Effects Space curves near a massive body and time dilates at high speeds.

Information Conservation If a stable VR is not to gain or lose information it must conserve it.
Physical Conservation Physical existence properties like matter, energy, charge, spin etc are either conserved or equivalently transform.

Algorithmic Simplicity Calculations repeated at every point of a huge VR universe must be simple and easily calculated.
Physical Law Simplicity Core physical processes are describable by relatively simple mathematical formulae, e.g. gravity.

Choice Creation A random number function in the VR processor could provide the choices needed to create information.
Quantum Randomness The quantum “dice throw” is to the best of our knowledge truly random, and unpredictable by any world event.

Complementary Uncertainty Calculating one property of a self-registering interface may displace complementary data.
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle One cannot know both a quantum object’s position and momentum, as knowing either makes the other unknown.

Digital Equivalence Every digital object created by the same code is identical.
Quantum Equivalence All quantum objects, like photons or electrons, are identical to each other.

Digital Transitions Digital processes simulate event continuity as a series of state transitions, like the frames of a film.
Quantum Transitions Quantum mechanics suggests that reality is a series of state transitions at the quantum level.

About Tom Campbell



Tom Campbell began researching altered states of consciousness with Bob Monroe Journeys Out Of The Body, Far Journeys, and The Ultimate Journey) at Monroe Laboratories in the early 1970s where he and a few others were instrumental in getting Monroe's laboratory for the study of consciousness up and running. These early drug-free consciousness pioneers helped design experiments, developed the technology for creating specific altered states, and were the main subjects of study (guinea pigs) all at the same time. Campbell has been experimenting with, and exploring the subjective and objective mind ever since. For the past thirty years, Campbell has been focused on scientifically exploring the properties, boundaries, and abilities of consciousness.

During that same time period, he has excelled as a working scientist, a professional physicist dedicated to pushing back the frontiers of cutting edge technology, large-system simulation, technology development and integration, and complex system vulnerability and risk analysis. Presently, and for the past 20 years, he has been at the heart of developing US missile defense systems.




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Friday, May 25, 2012

Michio Kaku on the Search for Earth's Twin: The Holy Grail of Planetary Astronomy

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Kepler-22 System


The Holy Grail of Planetary Astronomy As noted in a prior post, not only are planets numerous, there are more planets than stars in the Milky Way and presumably in other galaxies. NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. Previously Gliese 581g was discovered as a potential earth-like planet in the habitable zone.

Michio Kaku on The Holy Grail of Planetary Astronomy: The Search for Earth's Twin Dr. Kaku addresses the following question: A recently discovered planet named Kepler 22b apparently has a very, very similar composition to Earth, although I don't think they have it exactly figured out yet. What do discoveries like this mean and what is the possibility of many other earth-like planets being out there?




Gliese 581 System


Related Stories
Planets More Common in Milky Way than Stars: Planets Everywhere
Kepler Discovers First Earth-Sized Planets Outside Solar System
Exoplanet Gliese 581g Might Support Life


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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Hangout with Climbers on Mount Everest

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Mount Everest


Hangout with Climbers on Mount Everest

On May 18, 2012, members of the National Geographic/The North Face expedition to Mount Everest called in from Base Camp for a Google Hangout to answer questions about their experiences on the mountain. Climbers include expedition leader Conrad Anker, Sam Elias, Emily Harrington, Hilaree O'Neill, Kristoffer Erickson and Mark Jenkins. Members of the Base Camp support team are Andy Bardon, Phil Henderson, Landon Bassett, Derek Campbell, Anjin Herndon, and Max Lowe.

The team seeks the summit near the end of May. You can follow the expedition and experience the climb in real-time through dispatches, photos, videos and more in the June edition of National Geographic magazine for iPad and on the National Geographic magazine "On Everest" Field Test blog: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/everest/blog.



Mount Everest Summit

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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Wasp Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) Developed by DARPA and AeroVironment

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Wasp Micro Air Vehicle (MAV)


Wasp Micro Air Vehicle (MAV)

There are variations and sizes of the Wasp that have been around for several years. The video below was just released by AeroVironment, Inc. Their joint goal with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is to develop a small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) capable of performing “hover/perch and stare” missions. The Stealthy, Persistent, Perch and Stare (SP2S) UAS is based on AV’s small Wasp UAS, a one-pound, 29-inch wingspan battery-powered air vehicle that is being procured and deployed by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps. The goal of the SP2S program is to develop the technology to enable an entirely new generation of perch-and-stare micro air vehicles capable of flying to difficult targets, landing on and securing to a “perch” position, conducting sustained, perch-and-stare surveillance missions, and then re-launching from its perch and returning to its home base. Hand-launched and handheld ground control units are used for missions that include base security, route reconnaissance, mission planning, battle damage assessment, and force protection.

WASP UAS The Wasp Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) is a small, portable, reliable, and rugged unmanned aerial platform designed for front-line day/night reconnaissance and surveillance. Wasp is the result of a multi-year joint development effort between AV and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). (Editor's Note Not sure why the commandos are after the bass fisherman but they got them thanks to Wasp!)




Wasp Micro Air Vehicle (MAV)


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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Planets More Common in Milky Way than Stars: Planets Everywhere

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Planets Everywhere (Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser) This artists’s cartoon view gives an impression of how common planets are around the stars in the Milky Way. The planets, their orbits and their host stars are all vastly magnified compared to their real separations. A six-year search that surveyed millions of stars using the microlensing technique concluded that planets around stars are the rule rather than the exception. The average number of planets per star is greater than one.

Planet Population is Plentiful

An international team, including three astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), has used the technique of gravitational microlensing to measure how common planets are in the Milky Way. After a six-year search that surveyed millions of stars, the team concludes that planets around stars are the rule rather than the exception. The results will appear in the journal Nature on 12 January 2012.

Over the past 16 years, astronomers have detected more than 700 confirmed exoplanets [1] and have started to probe the spectra (eso1002) and atmospheres (eso1047) of these worlds. While studying the properties of individual exoplanets is undeniably valuable, a much more basic question remains: how commonplace are planets in the Milky Way?

Most currently known exoplanets were found either by detecting the effect of the gravitational pull of the planet on its host star or by catching the planet as it passes in front of its star and slightly dims it. Both of these techniques are much more sensitive to planets that are either massive or close to their stars, or both, and many planets will be missed.

An international team of astronomers has searched for exoplanets using a totally different method - gravitational microlensing - that can detect planets over a wide range of mass and those that lie much further from their stars.

Arnaud Cassan (Institut dʼAstrophysique de Paris), lead author of the Nature paper, explains: "We have searched for evidence for exoplanets in six years of microlensing observations. Remarkably, these data show that planets are more common than stars in our galaxy. We also found that lighter planets, such as super-Earths or cool Neptunes, must be more common than heavier ones."

“We used to think that the Earth might be unique in our galaxy. But now it seems that there are literally billions of planets with masses similar to Earth orbiting stars in the Milky Way,” concludes Daniel Kubas, co-lead author of the paper.

Planets Everywhere This artists’s cartoon view gives an impression of how common planets are around the stars in the Milky Way. The planets, their orbits and their host stars are all vastly magnified compared to their real separations. A six-year search that surveyed millions of stars using the microlensing technique concluded that planets around stars are the rule rather than the exception. The average number of planets per star is greater than one.




The Milky Way over the 1.54-metre Danish Telescope at La Silla Credit: ESO/Z. Bardon (www.bardon.cz)/ProjectSoft (www.projectsoft.cz) The Milky Way above the dome of the Danish 1.54-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The central part of the Milky Way is visible behind the dome of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope in the distance. On the right the Magellanic Clouds can be seen. This telescope was a major contributor to the PLANET project to search for exoplanets using microlensing. The picture was taken using a normal digital camera with a total exposure time of 15 minutes.

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Seeking Alpha