Fortune India
The thought may seem weird to many, but physicists recently have begun to take this question seriously, and they believe, this can yield rich insights into our Universe.
Physicist Melvin Vopson of the University of Portsmouth in UK has published an explosive new paper where he points out that our Universe could be a giant computer simulation, where the reality we experience is programmed.
According to Vopson, the main driving factor behind this could be gravity. Gravity, as per him, is not just a natural force but is the byproduct of the Universe trying to organise information efficiently.
Using mathematics, Vopson's hypothesis suggests that our Universe is a vast information processing system, much like a computer, organising matter and energy and wanting to reduce complexity.
But if this were to be true, scientists would require a whole new law of physics. Hence, Vopson suggests that a new model, taking inspiration from thermodynamics, could be a way out.
If thermodynamics have entropy, so does information systems, argues Vopson. Hence, one needs a new law of infodynamics to understand the Universe better, he suggests.
According to Vopson, information could also contain physical mass, just like particles. Hence, it must be considered as a form of matter.
Vopson argues that the relationship between gravity and information system could change the field of astrophysics, allowing us a window into the functioning of the Universe like never before.
For Vopson and his colleagues, this relationship of gravity with information system could also allow us to understand how information is lost and recovered when matter falls into a black hole.
Physicists for centuries have been trying to understand the fundamental nature of gravity, but to no avail. Vopson argues that approaching the problem from computational perspective could yield rich results.