Is the Universe a Hologram? Physicsts say its Possible.

Very Interesting!

A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.


They have numerically confirmed, perhaps for the first time, something we were fairly sure had to be true, but was still a conjecture — namely that the thermodynamics of certain black holes can be reproduced from a lower-dimensional universe,” says Leonard Susskind, a theoretical physicist at Stanford University in California who was among the first theoreticians to explore the idea of holographic universes.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Did not see this posted in my search.

reply to post by kurthall


I read that in the Daily Mail about half an hour ago. It sounds like an interesting concept but im very confused about how that affects our every day lives. Is everyone we interact a figment of our imagination? Some people were leaving comments that if everything is a hologram then we shouldnt pay our bills, pay taxes, or break laws. If that is the case, we have consequences. So i dont understand that part.

reply to post by kurthall


Well, it could be also possible that it is made out of jelly. I'm not bashing your Thread, but just because somebody gave his 2 cents, doesn't mean anything. Just like his other theory in the article that a black hole is made from several dimensions etc. Vivid imagination at best. It's just his theory and that is it. So nothing interesting, really.

reply to post by blackmetalmist


I agree with you, and am confused myself. Interesting though. I believe in God, would this just mean we really are in the Matrix He created. I in no way claim to believe this theory, but I am not a physicist. I still found it a good read.

Hey guys I read this article yesterday and noticed user blancblanket on reddit had the best explanation of the Hologram bit. here ya go

Link

I'm only like a 10 year old trying to explain it to a 5 year old, so anyone feel free to correct me where I'm wrong:
First off:
Don't mistakenly associate the word hologram with the Matrix or a StarTrek holodeck. It's a mathematical representation of something inside something else. It's like a video playing on your screen: it's there, but it doesn't take place on your actual screen. It also hold more or different "dimensions" than your screen is (you're watching a 3d videorecording on a 2d screen).
Dimensions are a though concept. It's not just about left right up down "and time being the fourth dimension" - it's a mathematical system that goes over the head of many. For now, consider them as "variables of a calculation", where the calculation is the system.
Then, what does (roughly) means:
Stringtheory is a (albeit debated) theoretic framework that explains all the different particles and behaviour.
Strings are 1-dimensional objects.
They run into a lot of problems explaining all the stuff happening in the universe, what happens in black holes (look up black hole entropy for example) and gravity and such.
In order to explain part of the stuff happening they need 10 dimensions to make the math work.
In order to explain a different part of the stuff happening and work with string theory, they have 1 dimension to make the math work
They have managed to make the math between these two systems correspond to eachother. So they can now use the 10 dimensional calculations and place these "inside" the 1 dimensional calculations.
This gets them a step closer to making the stringtheory as a whole "work".
Concluding: it doesn't mean we are living a lie or that we're in some sort of fictional world that doesn't exist. It means they have managed to put a 10-dimensional framework inside a 1-dimensional framework, like putting a video on your screen.
Source: I used to be a physics teacher, quit the field and completely switched careers - so I'm not very deep into this. I'm pretty sure there are people around here that can correct and improve my attempt to explaining this.
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Edit WOW, thanks stranger for the Gold! I didn't expect this to blow up like this.. Glad to see so many of you got somewhat of an understanding of this, and I really hope I didn't cut too many corners with my explanation...
Edit 2 For those wondering if I became a stripper or a congressman: I somehow became a photographer, so I can still work with people without being Roberta Sparrow
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EDIT 3 It might be a cliché, but for those who care, I really feel like adding something to this: I'm really moved by all the responses I got - I stepped far away from physics and education 5 years ago, as I simply got too much entangled with physics, and quantum physics in particular. I'm used to seeing 30, or even 50 students, but 3000 people? Mind blown. Like I said in the thread, it really has gotten me to think about the choice I made back then. I'm not going back to physics, but apparently a lot of people are still eager to learn. Thank you reddit, you've made my day, and given me something to think about in return.
Also I feel like I need to point out that for ELI5's sake my explanation is incomplete and even partly inaccurate - this video was posted that explains the 10-dimensions pretty good, and for example Stephen Hawking has some really good books with proper explanations without being all physicistical. Good luck!

reply to post by kurthall


I wouldn't call this the "clearest evidence yet". It's neat but people tend to overlook the supporting evidence that already exists. From Fourier mathematics to the way our memory works, there is evidence that a holomovement physics model can stand with the standard accepted physics model in a decent debate. It also unifies many otherwise irreconcilable flaws and anomalies that throw wrenches in contemporary theories.

Thanks for the thread. I'm hoping this will be accepted as a potential physics model by the time my daughter is in high school.

The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot - this is a great read about this topic.

The most immediate implication of the holographic universe has to do with the nature of holograms themselves. You see, in a hologram, all the information for the entire picture is contained within every element of itself. If you a holographic plate of say, an apple, and shine a light through it, it will produce a hologram of an apple. If you then cut the film in half, you are not left with half an apple; you have a hologram of the whole apple, just a little bit fuzzier. Keep cutting it up, you never lose the apple, it just becomes less sharp.

Extrapolating out to the "real world" being a hologram, it implies that all information about all things are encoded everywhere. That's why so many divination tools work - tarot cards, astrology, tea leaves, reading the entrails of animals - the information is coded in everything, so anything could be used to divine non-local information. You could similarly use cloud formations, or patterns in the waves of the ocean, if you developed a system you could relate to.

It also provides a framework for explaining how we are all connected. The hologram unites us all. That's how Edgar Cayce was able to prescribe healing for people on the other side of the world. That's how some people can read your past through your aura - your aura is a more direct expression of the hologram.

Nothing I can prove, but it passes the smell test for me, and provides some underlying explanations to some difficult to understand phenomena.

Excuse me if my verbage is a little off.

Introverted projected image. Created by observable thought.

reply to post by TwoTonTommy


You nailed it. That book is a great book to really get a feel of what the concept actually is. It's more about Fourier math being encoded into everything, no matter how perceptively separated it seems to be. Also, if you go "macro" enough, even the most chaotic of chaos will unfold in an implicit order which is extremely important.

Since ATS's search function failed me yet again...

Really amazing and interesting stuff here.

Is the Universe a Hologram? Physicists say it's possible.

Universe really IS a hologram according to new simulations - Scientific American

Yoshifumi Hyakutake

reply to post by TwoTonTommy


Isn't the Talbot book from the late or mid '90s? Has it been updated lately, I haven't seen a copy in years.

A holograph remains one theory on how our psychic reach can look at, say, someone's history through psychometry (holding an object and sensing incidents and emotions from that object). It's just looking, and practicing looking, and not second-guessing yourself.

reply to post by ATSmediaPRO


yeah this one is like 'what i saw' few years ago

thanks for putting this

peace.

So if we are connected to everything on a subconscious level then our perception of reality is a bit like a visual processor determining the formation of random molecules into a whole and perceived person. If this idea is expanded outward then it also implies that all elemental and natural contacts are in fact connections forged with the essence of that object, be it a rock, a tree or a pond. We access all the information we inherently know about said object, creating it as a "real thing" in our perceptions of time and space. Since these things are forged on such a delicate level we are completely unaware of the transfer of information from a structural energy base?

Thorneblood
So if we are connected to everything on a subconscious level then our perception of reality is a bit like a visual processor determining the formation of random molecules into a whole and perceived person. If this idea is expanded outward then it also implies that all elemental and natural contacts are in fact connections forged with the essence of that object, be it a rock, a tree or a pond. We access all the information we inherently know about said object, creating it as a "real thing" in our perceptions of time and space. Since these things are forged on such a delicate level we are completely unaware of the transfer of information from a structural energy base?

The "flicker rate" at which reality blinks back and forth is very fast. Like watching a fan spin, and appear to be a complete circle. Stick your finger in at any point and you will feel the "reality" of the circle. Yet, remove the power, and it reveals itself to be something more complicated.

The assemblage of reality via our senses is an automated task, much like regulating our heartbeat or any other inner body function. Yet, we can interrupt this assemblage of reality via deep meditation, or psychadelic drugs for those with less patience. Silencing the internal dialogue causes the assembler of reality to fall apart, leaving a chaotic looking world, with light and color but no order - the perception of order is the function of the assembler. Physical reality disappears from the senses, leaving only raw energetic signals... the real real world.

How typical of ATS that a thread about a scientific postulate in the Science & Technology forum contains no discussion of the postulate but is full of magical and metaphysical speculation instead.

For the record, what has happened here is that two mathematical models devised by the same physicist appear to confirm each other (ie the sums work out correctly). Neither model is based on reality; the hypothetical 'toy universes' modelled are very different from the real one we live in.

Like Hellas said, the universe might just as well be made of jelly as be a hologram. This is nothing but a mathematician's proof of a conceptual postulate.