Can we debug the Universe?

TL;DR

This paper explores whether the universe can be fully simulated by computers, arguing that hypercomputation challenges the Church-Turing thesis and suggests limitations in simulating the universe.

Contribution

It provides a multidisciplinary justification for the impossibility of fully simulating the universe using classical computational models, emphasizing hypercomputation's implications.

Findings

Hypercomputation extends computational capabilities beyond Church-Turing limits.

The universe's complexity may surpass what classical computation can simulate.

The validity of the Church-Turing thesis influences the feasibility of universe simulation.

Abstract

Roughly, the Church-Turing thesis is a hypothesis that describes exactly what can be computed by any real or feasible conceptual computing device. Generally speaking, the computational metaphor is the idea that everything, including the universe itself, has a computational nature. However, if the Church-Turing thesis is not valid, then does it make sense to expect the construction of a computer program capable of simulating the whole Universe? In the lights of hypercomputation, the scientific discipline that is about computing beyond the Church-Turing barrier, the most natural answer to this question is: No. This note is a justification of this answer and its deeper meaning based on arguments from physics, the philosophy of the mind, and, of course, (hyper)computability theory.