{"id":385905,"date":"2021-12-25T10:38:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T07:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/research-indicates-the-whole-universe-could-be-a-giant-neural-network\/"},"modified":"2021-12-25T10:38:46","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T07:38:46","slug":"research-indicates-the-whole-universe-could-be-a-giant-neural-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/research-indicates-the-whole-universe-could-be-a-giant-neural-network\/","title":{"rendered":"#Research indicates the whole universe could be a giant neural network"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Research indicates the whole universe could be a giant neural network<\/strong>&#8221;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image?fit=796%2C417&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2021%2F12%2Fneural.jpg&amp;signature=4d5f5ef56df1acf68215fc70bee2c3b3\" \/><\/p>\n<div>The core idea is deceptively simple: every observable phenomenon in the entire universe can be modeled by a neural network. And that means, by extension, the universe itself may be a neural network.<\/p>\n<p>Vitaly Vanchurin, a professor of physics at the University of Minnesota Duluth, published <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2008.01540.pdf\">an incredible paper<\/a> last August entitled \u201cThe World as a Neural Network\u201d on the arXiv pre-print server. It managed to slide past our notice until today when Futurism\u2019s Victor Tangermann published <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/physicist-entire-universe-neural-network\">an interview<\/a> with Vanchurin discussing the paper.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/ozs2jfiyea?videoFoam=true&amp;autoPlay=true\" title=\"\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wistia_embed\" name=\"wistia_embed\" allowfullscreen=\"\" msallowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The big idea<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the paper:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We discuss a possibility that the entire universe on its most fundamental level is a neural network. We identify two different types of dynamical degrees of freedom: \u201ctrainable\u201d variables (e.g. bias vector or weight matrix) and \u201chidden\u201d variables (e.g. state vector of neurons).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At its most basic, Vanchurin\u2019s work here attempts to explain away the gap between quantum and classical physics. We know that quantum physics does a great job of explaining what\u2019s going on in the universe at very small scales. When we\u2019re, for example, dealing with individual photons we can dabble with quantum mechanics at an observable, repeatable, measurable scale.<\/p>\n<p>But when we start to pan out we\u2019re forced to use classical physics to describe what\u2019s h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ening because we sort of lose the thread when we make the transition from observable quantum phenomena to classical observations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The argument<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The root problem with sussing out a theory of everything \u2013 in this case, one that defines the very nature of the universe itself \u2013 is that it usually ends up replacing one proxy-for-god with another. Where theorists have posited everything from a divine creator to the idea we\u2019re all living in a computer simulation, the two most enduring explanations for our universe are based on distinct interpretations of quantum mechanics. These are called the \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/qm-manyworlds\/#:~:text=The%20Many%2DWorlds%20Interpretation%20(MWI,and%20thus%20from%20all%20physics.\">many worlds<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hidden-variable_theory#:~:text=In%20physics%2C%20hidden%2Dvariable%20theories,introduction%20of%20unobservable%20hypothetical%20entities.&amp;text=Einstein%2C%20Podolsky%2C%20and%20Rosen%20argued,an%20incomplete%20description%20of%20reality.\">hidden variables<\/a>\u201d interpretations and they\u2019re the ones Vanchurin attempts to reconcile with his \u201cworld as a neural network\u201d theory.<\/p>\n<p>To this end, Vanchurin concludes:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In this paper we discussed a possibility that the entire universe on its most fundamental level is a neural network. This is a very bold claim. We are not just saying that the artificial neural networks can be useful for analyzing physical systems or for discovering physical laws, we are saying that this is how the world around us actually works. With this respect it could be considered as a proposal for the theory of everything, and as such it should be easy to prove it wrong. All that is needed is to find a physical phenomenon which cannot be described by neural networks. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it is easier said than done.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Quick take<\/strong>: Vanchurin specifically says he\u2019s not adding anything to the \u201cmany worlds\u201d interpretation, but that\u2019s where the most interesting philosophical implications lie (in this author\u2019s humble opinion).<\/p>\n<p>If Vanchurin\u2019s work pans out in peer review, or at least leads to a greater scientific fixation on the idea of the universe as a fully-functioning neural network, then we\u2019ll have a found a thread to pull on that could put us on the path to a successful theory of everything.<\/p>\n<p>If we\u2019re all nodes in a neural network, what\u2019s the network\u2019s purpose? Is the universe one giant, closed network or is it a single layer in a grander network? Or perhaps we\u2019re just one of trillions of other universes connected to the same network. When we train our neural networks we run thousands or millions of cycles until the AI is properly \u201ctrained.\u201d Are we just one of an innumerable number of training cycles for some larger-than-universal machine\u2019s greater purpose?<\/p>\n<p>You can read the paper whole paper <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2008.01540.pdf\">here on arXiv<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/new-research-indicates-the-whole-universe-could-be-a-giant-neural-network\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Research indicates the whole universe could be a giant neural network&#8221; The core idea is deceptively simple: every observable phenomenon in the entire universe can be modeled by a neural network. And that means, by extension, the universe itself may be a neural network. Vitaly Vanchurin, a professor of physics at the University of Minnesota&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":385907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/neural?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/12\/neural.jpg&signature=0f61d9b2a8d1228b17061760a9361978","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}