The World is Either Algorithmic or Mostly Random

TL;DR

This paper argues that the universe is fundamentally digital, with its patterns and complexity arising from simple, algorithmic processes, contrasting with a purely random or analog universe, and discusses the informational nature of reality.

Contribution

It introduces a framework using symmetry breaking and algorithmic probability to compare the universe's pattern distribution to a digital simulation, offering a new perspective on reality's informational structure.

Findings

The universe's pattern distribution aligns with digital, algorithmic processes.

A digital universe implies inherent complexity from simple rules, not triviality.

The universe's apparent randomness can be explained by simple underlying algorithms.

Abstract

I will propose the notion that the universe is digital, not as a claim about what the universe is made of but rather about the way it unfolds. Central to the argument will be the concepts of symmetry breaking and algorithmic probability, which will be used as tools to compare the way patterns are distributed in our world to the way patterns are distributed in a simulated digital one. These concepts will provide a framework for a discussion of the informational nature of reality. I will argue that if the universe were analog, then the world would likely be random, making it largely incomprehensible. The digital model has, however, an inherent beauty in its imposition of an upper limit and in the convergence in computational power to a maximal level of sophistication. Even if deterministic, that it is digital doesn't mean that the world is trivial or predictable, but rather that it is built up from operations that at the lowest scale are very simple but that at a higher scale look complex and even random, though only in appearance.