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\nIn episode 29 of the Star Trek series “The Next Generation”, the holodeck computer generates a character from the Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle: the villainous Professor Moriarty.<\/p>\n
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\nIn episode 29 of the Star Trek series “The Next Generation”, the holodeck computer generates a character from the Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle: the villainous Professor Moriarty.<\/p>\n
The interesting twist is that this holographically created image, at some point, starts to realize that he, in fact, IS a computer generated entity, and not the actual human being he is supposed to represent.<\/p>\n
A remarkable feat! Only outdone by his success in actually leaving the holodeck.<\/p>\n
I found that a very interesting episode, mostly because I have often thought along those lines myself (and who hasn’t?) .. what IF? What IF we were just part of a computer simulation? Could it be we’re just somebody’s (cruel) science project? Could it be that the universe as we perceive it, is just a hologram?<\/p>\n
As I recently found out, scientifically, this is maybe not such a crazy nutjob idea after all.<\/p>\n
The idea more or less started when the Dutch physicist (and Nobel laureate) Gerard van ‘t Hooft<\/a> proposed his holographic principle<\/a>, which, simply put, states that all information in a three dimensional space can be mapped onto a two dimensional boundary surface of that space. Or, to turn that around, the information described on a two dimensional surface can be projected in a three dimensional ‘holograph’.<\/p>\n The American scientist (who started his career at age thirteen as a plumber) Leonard Susskind<\/a> developed that idea further.\u00c2\u00a0 If you find the idea of a holographic universe intriguing, you may consider getting yourself his book “An Introduction To Black Holes, Information And The String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe<\/em>“<\/a> [Update: Disclaimer: This book is NOT exactly a ‘popular science’ book: it’s chockful of ‘higher’ mathematics! WAY over my head.]<\/font>.<\/p>\n Or, for a quick introduction, read the August, 2003 article in Scientific American<\/a> by Professor Jacob Bekenstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fascinating stuff, and I wish I would understand ten percent of it. [Update: Now that I have thumbed through the above mentioned book – that I no longer recommend for lay persons like myself – I have to humbly adjust that percentage from 10 to 1]<\/font><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n “Computer … resume program!”<\/em><\/strong>
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\n[Update: Instead of the book mentioned above I WOULD recommend two of Leonard Susskind’s books that ARE written for the lay person. See below.<\/font>]<\/p>\n