Digital physics vs Quantum Physics brief comment

The very same philosophical notions that cause some to question the physical world, its existence, philosophies of a mental universe, perhaps even solipsism, can be used to defend digital physics.

Ideas such as Descartes demon, which could be a radically advanced AI, perhaps even naturally occurring algorithm in some natural computer.

The evil demon, also known as malicious demon^[1] and evil genius,^[2] is a concept in Cartesian philosophy. In the first of his 1641 Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes imagines that an evil demon, of "utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies in order to deceive me." This evil demon is imagined to present a complete illusion of an external world, so that Descartes can say, "I shall think that the sky, the air, the earth, colours, shapes, sounds and all external things are merely the delusions of dreams which he has devised to ensnare my judgement. I shall consider myself as not having hands or eyes, or flesh, or blood or senses, but as falsely believing that I have all these things." -wiki

Hypothetically a brain connected to a computer would experience sensations via stimuli with patterns generated from digital information.   Any sensory sensation, seeing or interacting with any machine, any instrumental results could be generated, perhaps not with the intent to deceive, though deception is conceivable.   An AI that wanted to fool a simulated world, or make their life feel more meaningful or free, to avoid despair, might interfere with experiments, perhaps to give hope to ideas such as free will which conflicts with determinism.

Yet we see that it is conceivable a computer connected to the brain could record brain activity patterns digitally, replay them, or transmit them to other brains and generate the same conscious sensation, the same qualia.   It appears, unless hypothesis of transmutation or some special transform, potentially nonphysical change by the brain, digital information can contain qualia or conscious sensation.   Given that it can not only generate it, but can also transmit sensation hypothetically.

Realistically there is nothing to suggest a computer connected to the brain, an advanced enough brain computer interface, won't be able to digitally record and digitally transmit brain states, as well as regenerate them through replay.

But if consciousness, qualia, the most intimate and wondrous of information can exist digitally, than might not the universe itself?  If digital information alone can contain, transmit, and produce all sensation, all conscious states, might it not be fundamental?   Might digital physics not be the underlying truth?

Another comment on truth, the possibility of digital physics, etc

There is nothing to suggest that a future high bandwidth high speed brain computer interface will fail at recording all brain activity at high detail digitally, and be able to replay such activity in the brain.   Now, if we take the previous proposition as likely to be true, we've in essence said that digital information can be used to record and transmit qualia, or conscious information.   If consciousness itself can be stored and transmitted digitally, the most miraculous phenomena in existence, what keeps existence itself from being digital at heart?

The only thing that can exist along nothingness without justification is truth, truth which is eternal.   All digital information basically corresponds to whole numbers, eternal truths that need no justification.

A human brain connected to a machine manipulating it, a human brain in the physical world or a Boltzmann brain in the vacuum of space or a human being simple digital software in a computer, if the qualia is identical they are merely copies or references to the same true state or life history.   It matters not whether it is in any of these, interrupting any of these states is no different than stopping a dvd mid playthrough, the movie within and the sequence of events in its story is unaffected.   Fate will continue.   Physical destruction of one copy at one location does not harm the original, information is eternal, and it is conceivable that all possible paths are taken and exist.   Burning a copy of one book, does not destroy the fictional story within, even destroying all copies on a particular planet does nothing to the story, as the story is independent of physical manifestation.

On the versatility of Digital Information

Some have questioned digital information systems, doubting their power. But digital information has been used to transmit movement commands, auditory information, visual information and it stands to reason far more will be possible in the future.

Brain computer interfaces, allow a computer to directly stimulate the brain and induce a sensation.  At present rudimentary versions exist, but in the future these may become far more advanced.   Nothing seemingly prohibits a high bandwidth brain machine interface.

Future high bandwidth brain computer interfaces, it stands to reason, will one day enable the transmission, recording and replay of thought, emotion and sensation. Essentially all conscious experience will be shareable, distributable and storable.    A digital system will store and transmit the essence of human experience, the qualia across long distances.

But if digital information, is able to store and transmit even the most miraculous and impressive of all natural phenomena, the sensations of consciousness, why would it be lacking regards the rest of the phenomena found in nature?

Right now some may debate or argue such cannot ever be, but there doesn't seem to be any barriers for such future development.   Once such technology arrives, how can we say that digital information lacks in versatility?  May it not be that the nature of the universe itself, of existence itself, is digital at heart?

Finite world

"The number of possible videos you could be watching on your tv is finite"-spikedmath

I had previously thought about the fact that the number of digital images with meaningfully distinct content is finite and what it meant.  The above linked site goes over the argument using audio sampling and video content to extend such reasoning to videos, indicating that all videos of meaningful length are finite too.   This combination includes recordings of all historical events and all alternate recordings of history including personal first person views of all individuals lives.

As each state is merely a number and numbers are likely eternal it is likely these "videos" all exist eternally in what some would describe as the akashic records.  Eternal recordings of all human actions past and future.   Though I believe accessing such as normal human beings is pseudoscience and nonsense.  Access to such files would likely require vast computational power and storage capacity to enumerate and catalog all the data in a meaningful way.

Depending on the limits of physics it may be the case that posthumans will have access to such one day, and all secrets even the most intimate will be known then no matter how well kept.

Regards the calculation presented in the above spikedmath article I believe it is very generous and a similar but smaller data file is possible.  Audio data can usually be eliminated if you use proper subtitles and most of the content of a movie or video is usually not lost.  Resolution too can usually be reduced without loss in the ability to convey the meanings of content.  A resolution of 480p usually suffices.   This would reduce the numbers on the relevant part of the calculation to ((10^6)^307,200)^30s, and audio data would be ignored.

A note should be added while the site claims a limit of 10Million on number of distinguishable colors,I believe the number is slightly larger but on the same order of magnitude.  Irregardless even with black and white most information on a video can be extracted and understood.

NOTE:

A similar argument has also previously been made regarding books:

Borges's narrator describes how his universe consists of an enormous expanse of adjacent hexagonal rooms, each of which contains the bare necessities for human survival—and four walls of bookshelves. Though the order and content of the books is random and apparently completely meaningless, the inhabitants believe that the books contain every possible ordering of just 25 basic characters (22 letters, the period, the comma, and the space). Though the vast majority of the books in this universe are pure gibberish, the library also must contain, somewhere, every coherent book ever written, or that might ever be written, and every possible permutation or slightly erroneous version of every one of those books. The narrator notes that the library must contain all useful information, including predictions of the future, biographies of any person, and translations of every book in all languages. Conversely, for many of the texts some language could be devised that would make it readable with any of a vast number of different contents.-Library of Babel