© Wired.com
It's not every day that we come across a paper that attempts to redefine reality.
But in a
provocative preprint uploaded to
arXiv this summer, a physics professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth named Vitaly Vanchurin attempts to reframe reality in a particularly eye-opening way —
suggesting that we're living inside a massive neural network that governs everything around us. In other words, he wrote in the paper, it's a "possibility that the entire universe on its most fundamental level is a neural network."For years, physicists have
attempted to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. The first posits that time is universal and absolute, while the latter argues that time is relative, linked to the fabric of space-time.
In his paper, Vanchurin argues that artificial neural networks can "exhibit approximate behaviors" of both universal theories. Since quantum mechanics "is a remarkably successful paradigm for modeling physical phenomena on a wide range of scales," he writes, "it is widely believed that on the most fundamental level the entire universe is governed by the rules of quantum mechanics and even gravity should somehow emerge from it."
"We are not just saying that the artificial neural networks can be useful for analyzing physical systems or for discovering physical laws, we are saying that this is how the world around us actually works," reads the paper's discussion. "With this respect it could be considered as a proposal for the theory of everything, and as such it should be easy to prove it wrong."
The concept is so bold that most physicists and machine learning experts we reached out to declined to comment on the record, citing skepticism about the paper's conclusions. But in a Q&A with Futurism, Vanchurin leaned into the controversy — and told us more about his idea.
Futurism: Your paper argues that the universe might fundamentally be a neural network. How would you explain your reasoning to someone who didn't know very much about neural networks or physics?Vitaly Vanchurin: There are two ways to answer your question.
The first way is to start with a precise model of neural networks and then to study the behavior of the network in the limit of a large number of neurons. What I have shown is that equations of quantum mechanics describe pretty well the behavior of the system near equilibrium and equations of classical mechanics describes pretty well how the system further away from the equilibrium. Coincidence? May be, but as far as we know quantum and classical mechanics is exactly how the physical world works.
The second way is to start from physics. We know that quantum mechanics works pretty well on small scales and general relativity works pretty well on large scales, but so far we were not able to reconcile the two theories in a unified framework. This is known as the problem of quantum gravity. Clearly, we are missing something big, but to make matters worse we do not even know how to handle observers. This is known as the measurement problem in context of quantum mechanics and the measure problem in context of cosmology.
Then one might argue that there are not two, but three phenomena that need to be unified: quantum mechanics, general relativity and observers. 99% of physicists would tell you that quantum mechanics is the main one and everything else should somehow emerge from it, but nobody knows exactly how that can be done. In this paper I consider another possibility that a microscopic neural network is the fundamental structure and everything else, i.e. quantum mechanics, general relativity and macroscopic observers, emerges from it. So far things look rather promising.
What first gave you this idea?First I just wanted to better understand how deep learning works and so I wrote a paper entitled
"Towards a theory of machine learning". The initial idea was to apply the methods of statistical mechanics to study the behavior of neural networks, but it turned out that in certain limits the learning (or training) dynamics of neural networks is very similar to the quantum dynamics we see in physics. At that time I was (and still is) on a sabbatical leave and decided to explore the idea that the physical world is actually a neural network. The idea is definitely crazy, but if it is crazy enough to be true? That remains to be seen.
In the paper you wrote that to prove the theory was wrong, "all that is needed is to find a physical phenomenon which cannot be described by neural networks." What do you mean by that? Why is such a thing "easier said than done?"Well, there are many "theories of everything" and most of them must be wrong. In my theory, everything you see around you is a neural network and so to prove it wrong all that is needed is to find a phenomenon which cannot be modeled with a neural network. But if you think about it it is a very difficult task manly because we know so little about how the neural networks behave and how the machine learning actually works. That was why I tried to develop a theory of machine learning on the first place.
How does your research relate to quantum mechanics, and does it address the observer effect?There are two main lines of thought the Everett's (or many-world's) interpretation of quantum mechanics and Bohm's (or hidden variables) interpretation. I have nothing new to say about the many-worlds interpretation, but I think I can contribute something to the hidden variables theories. In the emergent quantum mechanics which I considered, the hidden variables are the states of the individual neurons and the trainable variables (such as bias vector and weight matrix) are quantum variables. Note that the hidden variables can be very non-local and so the Bell's inequalities are violated. An approximated space-time locality is expected to emerge, but strictly speaking every neuron can be connected to every other neuron and so the system need not be local.
Do you mind expanding on the way this theory relates to natural selection? How does natural selection factor into the evolution of complex structures/biological cells?What I am saying is very simple. There are structures (or subnetworks) of the microscopic neural network which are more stable and there are other structures which are less stable. The more stable structures would survive the evolution, and the less stable structure would be exterminated. On the smallest scales I expect that the natural selection should produce some very low complexity structures such as chains of neurons, but on larger scales the structures would be more complicated. I see no reason why this process should be confined to a particular length scale and so the claim is that everything that we see around us (e.g. particles, atoms, cells, observers, etc.) is the outcome of natural selection.
I was intrigued by your first email when you said you might not understand everything yourself. What did you mean by that? Were you referring to the complexity of the neural network itself, or to something more philosophical?Yes, I only refer to the complexity of neural networks. I did not even have time to think about what could be philosophical implications of the results.
I need to ask: would this theory mean we're living in a simulation?No, we live in a neural network, but we might never know the difference.
Reader Comments
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes:
True, without falsehood, certain and most true, that which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, for the performance of the miracles of the One Thing. And as all things are from One, by the mediation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing by adaptation.
R.C.
*Do I hear "You've won a grant!" ?
RC
And yes life makes far more sense to me as I replace self reliance with God reliance and remember that only God’s opinion counts.
mitochondria no matter how small, have an amazing effect on the parent organism. And yet, the ATP molecules are even smaller, and have a wondrous effect on the mitochondria......
no matter how small a part you are, you are still a part. you still effect the larger organism.
sorry.
Great point. Size doesn’t reflect effect. Without the mitochondria no ATP no life. We have no understanding of how powerful the human soul can be. One human soul is more powerful than the sun I am told.
RC
Ps, Rs1, Infra: 'all the way down', I'd heard it was nada but turtles.
ARTEX INFRA: Also, where's the computer?
RC
In that union state I expect the experience of soul orgasm to be even more than what we know in the physical (in His likeness) - why would it be any less?
As God has created all our souls, logically that would be resultant from God sized orgasmic experience - and everything about God is infinite in nature, something that is a stretch for my mind.
This seemingly unrelated theory seems to support the other weird UFO navigation theory.
Just saying.
Remember this? [Link]
Thanks for posting it here so I could see it again. It's a good one.
However, gravity and "expansion" cannot explain the dipolar nature of the superclusters, and the interaction with neighboring superclusters. Where have I heard of dipoles before ... ???
Perhaps connecting "synaptically" is a better description? It's where your thought led me (pun intended).
If two hypotheses contradict each other, wouldn't it be more prudent to assume that at least one is wrong ?
Instead of inventing subterfuges to keep the flow of fundings ?
What kind of day was It (hmmm i t ) having when It thought us up!?
Every proof to the contrary must be fake.
RC
That is a lens through which everything is distorted by nature of being assigned meanings derived from As If.
The physical expression is a projection of thought that is one with its existence.
The nature of thought is being in expression as charge differentiation, focal identity and motional imbalance.
But never as a capacity to leave Mind or to become something else.
But rather as a local or specific and current derivative of a Universal Patterning, as a frequency domain operating on the principles of resonance - within which is the expression of Universal communication and local patterns of interference, interaction and exchange.
This is the establishing of temporal perspectives and pathways of self-organising patterning and structure as focal points for the Universal Exchange or Communication that Is - one in all its parts and no part truly outside or apart from its unifying whole.
Cells or nodes and filaments are the spatial representation of Infinity points or participles.
The Infinite Is, and expresses through Extension of Self as Relational Freedom or resonant and coherent patterns of communication and exchange. Interference patterns operate instabilities that initiates structural reactions.
The realm of action and reaction set on the focus of structural identification is the object model of a closed system.
The very attempt to control, is the result of containment or subjection. This is an error in identification introducing instability of conflict operating as if a mind of its own, or a mind gone wrong or a mind set in and under control - that effectively blocks receptivity to and recognition of relational awareness and so operates structure as identity under death - which is the inherent incapacity for structure to know and be life in extension. That which gives form is not IN the form but through the totality of a self-extending gift of energy and in-formation that is already a moving wholeness of alignment within its field of responsibility. The inner and the outer are one, but our human reintegration to this knowing, is the re-wakening to the core responsibility for balancing our inner and outer domains by receiving the Communication in which we are realigned to freedom of being in expression, instead of struggle in object model mistaken for Current.
2) Re: I think I get your point, and love the usage of 'participles'. I read it as meaning the equivalent of a 'subpoint', which, by ordinary definitions is impossible.
Do I have that right? Do you have a definition for your 'participle' usage? All I found was standard grammatical definitions. Thanks!
RC
Everything participates. We cant get this by thinking from a posture of non participance - which is the inferred sense of separateness of the perceiver.
The idea of particles responding to desire of aligned intention, is also in David Bohm's blackballed study - (as I noted in the video Infinite Potentials).
There are other sources, but I didn't write from them, but from simply asking and listening and trusting.
Truth is always beyond word and form, but sketches of resonant recognition can serve the stirring from a true participance at Infinity - even as this particular situation. But of course.
RC
I hold for awakening responsibility for who and what we truly are, and this at some point has to release the judgements that assign a guilting blame for what we FEAR we have done. But while we disown or damn, we cannot accept error and release it. So in a sense there is driving into the skid, but as a willingness to be found in a reconnected relationship - instead of a dissociation struggling to 'solve itself'.
The CIMENT WALL will chew our MASKS.
IMO, this is why the poet is more relevant than the intellectual; one needs glasses to see and the other doesn't even need eyes.
RC
As i wrote, our integrity or lack of it.
As above So below
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Advertising in the 70's produced a lot of art with symbolism and imagery hidden in it as well, usually associated with "subconscious death-urges." The idea being that people have a hang-up about death that they find conspicuous and unresolved, so put a subtle image of death in your ad and people will subconsciously be drawn to it and fixate on it in an attempt to resolve their contention.
Obviously sex is a popular hidden theme for obvious reasons. They put an orgy in my macaroni...wha? H.R. Giger, while being an outstanding dramatic realist, is still just drawing a penis over and over. Hadn't noticed? Sorry I ruined that then (that's life after advertising). It's a penis. Lots of them, doing what they do best; being a penis.
I don't see Astrology as being a "ruling" force (like the guy hosting that video seems to postulate) as mush as I see it like a wave the surfer might ride. I certainly don't prescribe to the gospel of selfishness he preaches there at the end (it's all about me, me, me). Anton LeVey would have liked it better than I, and preached the same gospel himself.
His (Honest AME) odd contention with Christianity and their supposed wars he added to the end of the video is fallacious, worn out, ugly, and revealing. I think I understand the argument though, as long as people still assume that the "Church" represents God, and that the Catholic Church in particular has been on some Crusade for Jesus (and not for themselves) for hundreds of years, but I think that bears little actual evidence or credence. They are secular wars with secular objectives and secular accomplishments, but with heaps of religious propaganda used to fill uniforms with patriotic and determined people, as opposed to self-serving heathens who tend to see self sacrifice as contrary to their ideology, of course. They make crappy soldiers, but great serial killers. The heads of state all realize this.
In his defense, Joel Osteen preaches the same thing; me, me, me. So, it's not like the heathens have the market cornered on false religion. So called "Christians" do it too. So, I have to ask myself occasionally, "Is that butter or is it Parkay?" It always says "butter."
Wars are about real estate, not God, but good luck getting somebody else to die for that cause.
RC
Some of the adds from the seventies are comically just as blatant, even though they are trying to be subtle(I think?) and not ridiculous.
I like to use that era as an example because it's most clumsy and obvious, but it's also the era I derived my understanding from. An image search of "70's subliminal advertising" is practically a meme unto itself.
In 20 years today's brainwash will seem equally obvious and silly, if not worse, but presently it appears subtle to the consumer, if at all. Often they think their opinions are their own when in fact it's Pepsi/Disney/CNN. That's the best advertising. Those guys make the big bucks, and use actual science to do it (not that socially polarizing junk science they feed us...which is actually just more propaganda)
I'm not surprised at the risen popularity of nose-rings(made in China). It says it all about modern society.
By the way, Disney also preaches the me, me, me religion. It is the "moral" to almost every one of their fables (just follow your heart, be who you are, you are god). It is also the central tenant (and the only important tenant) of the Church of Satan. I used to follow that philosophy myself, I was a "satanist" (selfist) for many moons, and that's why when I see it being preached it looks so familiar to me. It stands out like a sore thumb. I would have been a card carrying member too, but they wanted $200 for one.
I think the proper term for the religion is "secular humanist," which I read Anton LeVey toyed with the idea of naming The Church of Satan that, but settled on "Satanism" because it was an affront to the taboo, scared dingbats away, personified his ideology of pride and self, and the imagery made a good psychological lever. I think they are going back to that now, though (calling themselves "secular Humanists"). I stopped following it a while back. Now it follows me (always looking for a hand-out).
I do recall an advertisement in a playboy ad 1970s/1980s where the pretty boy male is carrying from left to right, two oranges a 4ft. sub roll, and a vase of cream.
When I bothered to notice it, I almost fell over laughing about how humanity could not only not see it, but also allow it to change ANYTHING in their lives.
Humanity? Inanity!
RC
SOTT Focus:Covid-19: Govt. Narrative Fundamentally False
Biochemical engineer, Ivor Cummins exposes the official government SAR-CoV-2 narrative as fundamentally false.(As you apparently also commented there, I guess you might have seen it? Or not? I dunno. It's a 'no worries' situation no matter how one looks at it.)
RC
Am I. And I know where nose rings come from, I have seen them "at work". I had researched this topic some while ago. Many technology patents in this field are from the '90s and early 2000s, usual under innocent sounding names and descriptions.
My little brother was more genuine red-neck than I am, but he died of stupid a few years back, alone in the cold, in the backseat of a '68 Rebel, one week before his 33rd birthday. I think my mother must have gotten pregnant with him while listening to Johnny Cash. Poor idiot spent his entire adult life on parole or in prison for attempting suicide when he was 17. He could never keep his nose clean enough to make it off parole. He was sure handsome though. It broke my mother's heart.
I tried to deny my hillbilly roots for a while in high school, but they're too deep. I hate the city. I just hate it. I'd seriously rather be dead than live in Vegas.
I'm armed and currently reside at 6000ft rocky mountain high, I own a Dodge pickup, have a fat wife, and both my kids sing George Jones.
Like nose rings, veganism, or BLM ...
It reminds one of B Bub's quote of the adage "never bring a knife to a gunfight" at infra, which is even closer to supremely 'stupid.'
CW: Sorry about your loss, but happy to hear you've got a relatively safe/secure home life.
C & CW: Can you just go shooting on your property? I theoretically could not but often used a scoped air rifle in the back yard which was good for practice (I once made a single hole three shot at ten yards, but I believe I was doing some version of a bench rest rather than offhand..) providing one has gotten past flinching at the sound of a gun blast.
R.C.
Watch Lancaster body cam footage of police shooting
Police released the body cam footage of a police officer fatally shooting a man in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Sunday afternoon. Protesters gathered in the hours after the shooting, following the...RC
Used to be a lot of bikers, but what jobs? Other than the Hogs rumbling through, it was quiet back then.
Good grief how Countrysides turn into !!
Keep your spirits up - i have another comment of yours to finish up (yours are more detailed than mine)
Sometimes it seems obvious that was our place on earth. Who else can do that? Not the raccoons, probably. We're so good at it too, and it's so rewarding, and the earth needs us. It's a shame we got so self absorbed somewhere along the line. I think utopia is hidden in what that guy is doing. We are master gardeners (I'm not, but I try) here to tend the boss's vine (and test His wine), I like to think.
I love the critters.
Christian... we have the choice to enjoy Paradise or suffer Hell; all is there for the experimenting. Our choice.
I ll get you something else; you ll love it. Jolie's eyes have already seen, our eyes simultaneously see downunder and up here lolll
Enjoy everyone
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CW was your brother born on a 16 or 17 by chance or 1960/61 1951/52 (=16)
Reality had been catching up to him
It turns out this Balaam was notorious in Canaanite scripture too (this wasn't his first rodeo) for being a Dr. Dolittle/ Horse whisperer/ Dances with Wolves/Grizzly Adams/ Siegfried and Roy, Steve Irwin type. It's why we don't read him freaking out when the Donkey starts talking. That's what this particular wizard's niche was. It was his whole claim to fame.
It helped to have context. The context for that story was probably obvious to folks back then.
Cow went dry? Call Balaam, son of Beor. Chicken won't lay? Call Balaam, Son of Beor (We're open 6 days a week).
In fact we have a long history of famous people who are very talented at communicating to the critters, and I feel stupid for thinking the story was so unrelatable (Sorry Lassie, of course Billy fell down the well, duh?).
I used this scripture, and the fact that nobody understands what I'm talking about anyway, to give myself permission to go ahead and get chatty with nature. If nobody was going to understand, whatever, at least the critters weren't assholes.
The Crazy Old Man of the Church of Dirt was born that day, and now he wanders about echo locating himself to a fuzzy black prehistoric chicken like a mumbling lunatic in an empty garden.
It's not empty.
I go ahead and just talk to them. I figure if we are communicating we are bound to understand each other more often than if we are not.
Was in a real hurry to meet God (1981) BUFFALO
Actually, no shit, it happened. MY 7th DAY.
... so what is yours Christian?
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Here i found her
Anna Breytenbach
Or
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I dropped out the moment it was legal to do so. I also avoided school photographs, and anything else that linked me to that institution. I have very little first hand information as to what they thought of me (usually absent), but it was clear they thought about me a lot. Too much, IMO.
RC
If you're hunting predators, they're probably still in the woods, but the herd might be shifting direction.
33 yr of
😔
Nothing wrong about talking with critters.
R.C.
P.s., I wrote about this previously, I believe.
RC
She hates that when large objects are rearranged (different car in the driveway), or if conspicuous landmarks aren't where they used to be (son moved the garbage can to the curb). It has to do with her snap-shot perspective on everything. Ancient lizard brains like hers don't appear to watch things as they move so much. They seem to take mental snap-shots, and then refer to it to compare for changes. When something changes, then they investigate (and activate their frontal lobe). Like a Where's Waldo puzzle.
I think it's has something to do with sitting there for long periods doing nothing (most birds do this less than the chicken), and the economy of a small brain. When the lizard does it, it's like the sleep mode on a computer. Once the mouse (environment) moves the computer (lizard brain) is alerted/activated. Otherwise it just sits there in a torpor. If it twitches like a bug, the game is on.
It appears to me that edible bugs all have the same twitch (signal) too. One that the cockroach knows to avoid. It is one of the few bugs (non-arachnid) I have seen that can actually move fluidly and gracefully if it wants. Most of the rest just have off and on modes (they twitch and creep), but the roach, if he knows he's been seen will begin to move in a way very uncharacteristic of an edible bug, with slow fluid movement, more like a spider. He's lying, essentially saying; "Here I am, but I'm not a bug, and certainly not delicious. See?"
The dog reads that as "Here I am (sneaky)," and that translates into canine as "dead bug soon." Little seems to piss the dog off quicker than "Here I am (sneaky)."
The cat says that a lot. It's why cats and dogs don't get along, I think. If a cat can manage to walk by a dog casually, typically the dog doesn't care. But, that doesn't happen often enough, and certainly anything the dog sees fleeing it will want to chase. It is the obvious retort.
From my observation, animals use these generic "words," (not unlike ancient Hebrew, and probably other ancient languages with small vocabularies) that have a rather ambiguous meaning outside of context or intonation.
For example; The word F*k. It can have a lot of different meanings depending on context and intonation. It goes from curse to blessing by just adding an "a" to the end (F*kin' A).
Animals often have very expressive body language that can give heaps of context to their simple words. The lady in the video LindaMay posted uses that technique (of body context) almost exclusively. She's all body language, and an expert at nonchalance. The cadence of her voice is also very comfortable, relaxed, and without surprises. Virtually anything she vocalizes still sounds like, "Here I am (friendly and nonchalant)."
Currently, I am of the opinion that some birds (like the Raven in that cool video, but maybe not chickens) are much smarter than we have given them credit for, and I think this is due to the higher complexity of their language, and the acuteness of their vision (my chicken can't see for crap). IMO, they generally outsmart primates by leaps and bounds.
There's a video somewhere out there of a bird that collects bread crumbs at a bus-stop so it can crush it up and use it for bait that it then uses to catch minnows near a dock close by (turns out there are several different videos of this). That seems an unusually long train of contemplation for a critter, and would not be possible (IMO) without considerable terminology assigned to specific ideas that are then rearranged strategically to form a plan.
Words are very important for memory function. Without words, you have shapeless piles of ideas and little more. The more specific words you have, the better the filing system is for that pile of ideas, and then recall becomes more viable, the less your mind is a pile and the more it is a filing cabinet.
I think art (abstraction and metaphor) allows the mind to access more of those files at once.
I know that was a lot (wall of type. Whatever), but it was more for me than you, so don't get mad and feel like you have to read that. You don't, but my thoughts are organized better now, so thanks for your patience, and thanks for the inspiration, SOTTies.
Love this: "Like a Where's Waldo puzzle."
I once, for a very, very short while adopted a magpie in SoCal, and had visions of him hanging out with me twenty years hence, which could have been true. See the AB.
Back then, people would tell me that magpies could never learn to speak; I insisted that I'd heard that they can. (I was right.) Check out this! [Link] GREAT!
LM, CHECK THIS OUT!
R.C.
These were the vids i had in mind yesterday.
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Odd thing; towards the end of the second video, where Loy is collaborating with the shaggy Donkey, I had to get up and leave again. I was very upset (at what? IDK). I went to the garden, where it got more pronounced (I allowed it) and it resolved itself in the water from my eyes with this message; "We are your witness."
I chuckled and thought (but I cried again when I wrote it), wow, the humans are f*k'd then, aren't they?
All this time, I had assumed (never even questioned it) I needed them to sign off on my personal righteousness, and if I couldn't somehow prove it to them I was good, I lost some great spiritual struggle. They seem to be under a similar impression; like they should judge me.
Well, that's not what I just heard. There have been others watching. Really watching.
In my life the people murmur, and plot against me. They shun and avoid me, and leave me in solitary confinement, passing consensus on my life among themselves without my consent, and only their pride to guide them. I've been abducted from my front porch, had my limbs dislocated, my teeth broken, and my children taken from me for no reason beyond their disposition against me. Literal mobs, fashioned from the "pillars" of the community (teachers, cops, priests, judges, neighbors, family) standing in the streets threatening me, and acting on those threats too, even unto perjury before real judges.
Had I actually done evil of any sort I would not have been spared. If these people could have found a single spot I would have been crucified for it. It sucked anyway, and I'm still missing my front tooth, but I still have my children and my home...and my garden.T
This is just their most recent petition of violence against me. They pronounced their hate for me with fists and vitriol from my birth (f* you too, mom), and I always thought that somehow I had to reconcile their perspectives against me, and make it clear that the accusations were not just wrong, but criminal. Somehow justice needed to be written in their language, in their terms. I wanted the record set straight. I want vengeance, goddamnit. I want to roll in their blood like a wolf.
Enter Stage Right: Balaam, The Son of Beor (played by LindaMay).
Thank you, LindaMay.
i knew something was...
Meditate on both your names
Bravo
I am 17 + 1961; is puma medicine as Yin + Yang also Raven.
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I ❤️ Dachshunds. They are my all time favourite dog. I had one called Jessie for 14 years.
I love them tooooo, funny just saw one taking a walk . lovely creatures.
I was awake for 3 hrs last night too arrrrgggg!!
(I put my earphones on and listen to TGE BELL CHANT or The Bhagavad Gita)