The movie «Matrix» (1999) proposes a dystopian future where machines rule humans. Neothe hero of the story – played by Keanu Reeves– discovers that what he knows as reality is -in reality- a computer simulation created by technology to subjugate humans and extract energy from them, as if they were batteries.
The idea of a world as a simulation was widely developed, both from literature – «life is dream«, by Pedro Calderón – as from philosophy – «allegory of the cave«, Plato-. Now, a group of scientists took up the debate and grounded the idea that the universe is a computer simulation.
A recent study published in the Journal of Holography Applications in Physics carried out by Mir Faizal, Lawrence M. Krauss, Arshid Shabir y Francesco Marino, from the University of British Columbia, revealed that it is impossible to formulate a «Theory of Everything» (ToE) that is completely algorithmic, that is, based solely on computable rules.
A group of scientists has debunked the idea that we live in a computer-simulated universe like the Matrix. In their article, the researchers explained that the physical reality It contains facets that are inherently computationally undecidable, forcing physics to go beyond algorithms to achieve complete understanding.
The limits of computing in the search for a quantum explanation of the universe
The search for a quantum gravity theory (QG) aims to explain how spacetime emerges from deeper quantum degrees of freedom, by resolving General Relativity’s flaws in singularities, such as black holes or the Big Bang.
Traditionally, it is expected that this QG can be encoded as a formal computable system, known as FQG, the computational core. However, the work applies three fundamental logical limits to this algorithmic program.
Los Gödel’s incompleteness theoremswhich guarantee the existence of well-formed physical statements that are true, but impossible to prove within the algorithmic framework of the FQG.
Since any simulation of the universe would be inherently algorithmic, it would be systematically incomplete.He Tarsk indefinability theoremi, which prohibits the construction of a «truth predicate» for quantum gravity within the theory itself.
Y to the incompleteness of Chaitinwhich sets a limit on the epistemic scope of algorithmic deduction, declaring that ultra-complex statements—inevitable in high-energy physics—are formally inaccessible.
Together, these results create a «insurmountable frontier» for any strictly computable frame. Complex QG phenomena, such as whether a many-body system becomes thermalized—the physical process by which particles in a system reach thermal equilibrium through interaction with each other—turn out to be algorithmically undecidable.
To transcend these computational limitations and achieve a truly complete Theory of Everything, the authors propose the «Meta-Theory of Everything» (MToE)which extends the computational core (FQG) by adding a deadweight inference mechanism and an external truth predicate.
Because MToE contains non-algorithmic content that escapes formal verification, no simulation could, in principle, reproduce the entire underlying physical structure of our universe.This truth predicate is a conceptual resource that models non-algorithmic understandingcapable of certifying physical truths, such as microstates of black holes, that escape all algorithmic searches.
Crucially, MToE does not imply a failure of science. Instead, he affirms the principle of sufficient reason by showing that an “adequate explanation” is broader than a “derivation by a finite mechanical procedure.”
The universe is not a simulation
The MToE framework has a direct implication on the popular simulation hypothesis. Since any simulation of the universe would be intrinsically algorithmic—based on a finite program and therefore equivalent to the FQG computable fragment—it would be systematically incomplete.
Because the MToE contains non-algorithmic content escaping formal verification, no simulation could, in principle, reproduce the complete underlying physical structure of our universe.
The analysis suggests that genuine physical reality embeds non-computable content that cannot be created on a device equivalent to a Turing Machine. Therefore, since the universe is governed by MToE, the simulation hypothesis is logically impossible.
