It’s likely to come up around 3 a.m.— six beers or cups of bad coffee later — in a long discussion among frosh: Our universe is a simulation. Controlled by intelligent aliens no doubt…
Yeah, just like in the Terminator series. Skynet, you know…
Yeah, Skynet…
Go to Bed
At Science Daily, the University of British Columbia (Okanagan) reports that new research suggests that the idea that the universe is a simulation is mathematically impossible.
By applying advanced mathematical principles, including Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, they proved that any consistent and complete model of existence requires what they call “non-algorithmic understanding.”
To grasp this idea, imagine how a computer works — it follows a set of defined instructions step by step. Yet, some truths exist that cannot be reached by following any sequence of logical operations. These are known as “Gödelian truths,” and while they are real, they cannot be proven using computation.
“Physicists prove the Universe isn’t a simulation after all,” November 10, 2025
Mathematician Kurt Gödel (1906–1978), who originated the idea the researchers are referring to, destroyed an important branch of materialist atheism (logical positivism). The authors offer an example of his thinking:
Consider the statement, “This true statement is not provable.” If it were provable, it would be false, contradicting logic. If it cannot be proven, then it is true, which means any logical system attempting to prove it is incomplete. In either case, computation alone falls short.
“We have demonstrated that it is impossible to describe all aspects of physical reality using a computational theory of quantum gravity,” says Dr. Faizal. “Therefore, no physically complete and consistent theory of everything can be derived from computation alone. Rather, it requires a non-algorithmic understanding, which is more fundamental than the computational laws of quantum gravity and therefore more fundamental than spacetime itself.”
We Don’t Often Hear Physicists Arguing for Plato’s Universe …
But times are changing:
The team’s findings rest on the evolving understanding of what reality truly is. Physics has moved far beyond Isaac Newton’s view of solid objects moving through space. Einstein’s theory of relativity replaced that classical model, and quantum mechanics transformed it yet again. Now, at the forefront of theoretical physics, quantum gravity proposes that even space and time are not fundamental elements. Instead, they arise from something deeper — pure information.
Physicists describe this informational layer as a “Platonic realm,” a mathematical foundation more real than the physical world we perceive. According to the new research, it is from this realm that space and time themselves emerge.
This isn’t the materialist view we are accustomed to hearing:
Co-author Dr. Lawrence M. Krauss notes that the implications of this finding extend deep into the foundations of physics. “The fundamental laws of physics cannot be contained within space and time, because they generate them. It has long been hoped, however, that a truly fundamental theory of everything could eventually describe all physical phenomena through computations grounded in these laws. Yet we have demonstrated that this is not possible. A complete and consistent description of reality requires something deeper — a form of understanding known as non-algorithmic understanding.”
Information and Intelligent Design
Some people would be surprised to find one of the authors, Lawrence Krauss, espousing such a position, given his past reflections. The idea that information underlies the universe is compatible with the very intelligent design theory he has opposed in the past.
From the open access paper:
… Gödel’s incompleteness theorems , Tarski’s undefinability theorem, and Chaitin’s information-theoretic incompleteness establish intrinsic limits on any such algorithmic program. Together, these results imply that a wholly algorithmic “Theory of Everything’’ is impossible: certain facets of reality will remain computationally undecidable and can be accessed only through non-algorithmic understanding . We formalize this by constructing a “Meta-Theory of Everything’’ grounded in non-algorithmic understanding, showing how it can account for undecidable phenomena and demonstrating that the breakdown of computational descriptions of nature does not entail a breakdown of science. Because any putative simulation of the universe would itself be algorithmic, this framework also implies that the universe cannot be a simulation.
Mir Faizal, Lawrence M Krauss, Arshid Shabir, Francesco Marino. Consequences of Undecidability in Physics on the Theory of Everything. Journal of Holography Applications in Physics, 5(2), 10-21 DOI: 10.22128/jhap.2025.1024.1118“
If Ideas Are Real, Too, as Plato Believed
At Science Alert, Michelle Starr notes, “A question that has vexed physicists for the past century may finally have a solution — but perhaps not the one everyone was hoping for.” She explains,
Using these logical theorems, the researchers find that physics itself cannot be fully computable. They propose that the only way to resolve a Theory of Everything is to add a non-algorithmic layer above the algorithmic one to create a Meta Theory of Everything, or MToE.
This meta-layer would be able to determine what’s true from outside the mathematical system, giving scientists a way to investigate phenomena such as the black hole information paradox without violating mathematical rules.
And, of course, it puts to bed that pesky problem of whether we’re actually “real”.
“Physicists Just Ruled Out The Universe Being a Simulation,” November 1, 2025
Yes. We are real and Skynet isn’t.
Well, okay, wait. Skynet is real — in the sense that it is an idea in someone’s head that became a popular movie franchise. So ideas and movies are both real, just in different ways.
Notice, we seem a long way now from the once-dominant science view of eliminative materialism in which philosophers argued that human consciousness was not even real. If information underlies the universe, there isn’t any point to claiming that any more.
Cross-posted at Mind Matters News.