Eternal Gods Die Too Soon

by Beka Modrekiladze

  -Okay, I will plot the experiment, and you start to create things for apparatus there before I arrive, to win some time.

  He already was very concerned about the fact that they needed to start everything over again, so he did not want to lose time anymore. He seemed so excited and motivated. It was bizarre for the AI; the last time it saw him like that, it was years before when he began to talk to his daughter again, and they started creating those facilities.

  On the way, he made a few corrections in his experiment plot, but the AI still managed to prepare everything before he arrived there. When the AI told him that is was finished, at first, he could not believe it, but when he came, the reasons became clear, all the facilities were like he saw them last time.

  -But why did not you destroy them, as I told you?

  -Well, your daughter asked me not to. She said that people are not always sure about what they are saying and they often regret it afterwards, but it is already too late then. So, on the one hand, you should try to respect people's choice, but on the other hand, you should give them a second chance too. So, she asked me to wait for one year and after to ask you again, if you changed your mind. If not, I would destroy them. So she got the solution by which it was possible to respect your choice and also to avoid taking the second chance from you.

  He felt enormous happiness, realizing how his daughter cared about him and also he understood how much she loved him and cared about him all the time. However, he decided that he did not have the time for that and he immediately rushed toward the laboratory where he was going to do that experiment.

  The Experiment

  The apparatus and everything else was already ready for him, but he sat near it and spent hours like that. Even though he hurried greatly, when he already was near it, he was afraid to make the first step, he was also scared of the possible result.

  Actually, they had a prototype of the apparatus before. Initially, it was an experiment, intended to check the Uncertainty Principle. It had just three parts, a barrier with two slits, a screen and the beam of particles called photons, or otherwise known as light. The light was shined on the screen, but between them was a barrier, with just two open slits. Therefore, it was natural to expect two bright lines on the screen, and initially, it was like that indeed. However, when one made the slits too narrow, many bright lines appeared on the screen, when we had just two open slits in the barrier. The solution to that mystery was the Uncertainty Principle. When one makes the width of slits too narrow, one can, therefore, have information about the position of the particles, at the very moment passing through the slits. However, the principle dictates that we are not allowed to have information about the position and the momentum of the particle at the same time. Therefore, after getting known the position we would have uncertainty in the momentum. So we would know more certainly where the particle was, but we would not know where it would go, so particles would not continue their way linearly after the crossing of the barrier, they would spread out in different directions, and that is why we would have many bright lines.

  However, this time his intention was not to check the Uncertainty Principle. He was interested, to what extent we were not allowed to have information. The particles were “changing” when we were “watching” them. So this time he would get information, but he would not have a look at it before particles reached the screen. The experiment would go without his supervision. There would be information about how many particles passed through each hole, and also apparatus would take a picture of the screen, and only after the end of the experiment would he try to see the results. He knew that because of the uncertainty principle he could not have information about both the position and the momentum. Therefore, if he knew in which slit the particle passed through, he knew the position, but after knowing that, he could not know where it would go, he could not know the momentum. Therefore on the screen there had to be many bright lights. And vice-versa, if on the screen were two bright lights, he could not have information about the particles number.

  Finally, the experiment was finished, and he had a printed photo of the screen on his desk and the data about the number of particles. However, he did not have a look at the data or the picture, which was covered by paper, immediately. At first, he saw the data and after saw the picture, so indeed there were many bright lights. He repeated the experiment, but this time before he saw the picture, he erased the data about the particles number, without having a look at it, and saw the photo afterwards. This time, there were just two bright lines. He repeated that experiment many times, but every time he saw the photo, having information about the number of particles beforehand, he saw many lines, but whenever he had deleted that information without having a look at it there were just two lines on a photo, which was already printed out way before he was about to decide on something.

  -Can you see it?! I was correct!

  -See what? Does not that mean again that Uncertainty Principle works?

  AI asked him.

  However, he did not rush to answer, even though he already knew the answer. He was enjoying the moment; it was the moment that there was something that he could understand and even the AI could not. After feeding his arrogance, he started slowly and calmly, by raising his voice and get more excited on each word.

  -No. It means more. Much more! The photo, even though, it was printed in the past, the action in the future could change it and the past was being rewritten each time. We already had a printed photo, but if we deleted the information about the number of particles, we would have two bright lines. Yes, if we did not delete, then we would have many lines since we are not allowed to have information about both — the position and the momentum. However, the crucial part of it is that the past was being rewritten each time, so for the Universe, there is no such concept as the time. The time exists only for us, living on the three-dimensional projection, but now we are able to understand it.

  -Well, maybe I had seen humanity when it was already near the end, but I found the data about history, about the glory of science and technology. And yet, I have to admit, that it is probably the highest point, people ever reached, toward the understanding of the Universe. Do you want me to arrange the call to your daughter? She will be very happy for you, and also you finally found the answer to one of her questions.

  -Ha-ha. It is not even the achievement by itself! It was just a test of the theory. The theory, which actually answers not to her one question, but to all her questions. This theory answers to every question and explains everything; this is The Theory of Everything, The Ultimate Theory. No, do not call to her, no time for that, and also she would not understand it anyway. Now, I will tell you what all the story of the Universe is about and after we need to proceed to my plan of using this theory.

  The Theory

  After his colossal excitement, finally, he was able to control himself. So, he sat into the chair and started his speech, this time calmly and with patience.

  -All paradoxes have simple explanations. If sometimes a problem appears hard or the descriptions are complicated, the only problem is that we are not smart enough to understand and to explain things simpler. The real answers are always more elegant than the tries of hiding our ignorance. The Universe also is no exception. The question, if something can understand another thing, part of which it is by itself, has the answer — yes. Because the basic principles are uniscale.

  We showed from the experiment that the time is an illusion. However, it is just the thing which flows only in three dimensions and for the uncertainty principle to be held, it is controlled from higher dimensions. Our Universe is just four-dimensional surface of the screen with pixels in higher dimensions, that is why it is not a problem for a past to be rewritten. It is just a simulation in higher dimensional Universe!

  That is why our Universe has the limit for the highest speed. You never thought about it, but to have the limit on the speed in the “Real” Universe, it is very unnatural. However, it is clear now, why w
e have limit speed. Motion in our Universe is reproduced by changing the pixels on the four-dimensional screen of that Universe. One pixel fades out, the second one near it flashes on and so on. However, when it does such updates, it does so with some frequency, which has its own limit, since the performance of the processor by which is our Universe being simulated has the limit. You should know it well, when the processor works on performance which is near its limit, it slows down. In the same manner, when we get closer to the speed of light, it requires the processor to change pixels with high frequency to simulate our motion. However, as soon as it goes closer to the limit, it slows down, and we can notice that even in our Universe when the object approaches the speed of light, time slows down for it.

  -But you mentioned frequency and updates, it is not as time, it is discrete.

  -Yes, and that is precisely the issue. Think about it, do you really measure time in this Universe? You just count events, how many seconds, or how many electron transitions. However, how long does each event take, which you use for a unit of time, you do not know. There is some minimal bit of time, and on each of it, the Universe updates. It may be, for instance, turning off a pixel at some point and turning on the pixel near it. However, to simulate the motion, with higher speed than the speed of light, it requires updates in the time which is less than the unit of time, therefore with higher frequency than the limit of the processor; therefore the processor slows down.

  -Well, that would make a sense, but we also have an exceptional case when information in the Universe travels faster than the speed of light. The case of particles, spins of which are entangled. In that case, even if we separate them by a distance of several light-years, measuring the one particle will affect the second one immediately, so information to the second one will travel faster than the speed of light.

  -Sure, but why did you assume that information necessarily travels through the space-time, which is on the screen? There is no need for the information to travel on the screen, by manipulating the pixels of the space-time. If our Universe is a simulation, there should be wires beneath the screen and the information will travel through them. And as for our case, the limit of the speed of our Universe is much higher than limits of our computers; it is natural that the limit of the speed in the outer Universe if it has one, will be higher than the speed of their computers. Therefore, this is not a paradox at all. On the contrary, it is additional proof.

  -But if our Universe is a simulation, why does it care about Uncertainty so much?

  -Well, it is just the optimization algorithm. To minimize the power consumption of the computer. I had one client, at work and he had the hobby of playing video games, so I needed to learn a bit about them, to be able to help him better. In the video games, when a player is traveling in the city, there are tons of streets simulated when a player goes through them, and he can see them. However, are all streets simulated at the same time?

  -Of course not, it would be much too power consuming and also there is no need for it. Only the places where the player is, in other words, which the player “sees,” are being simulated.

  -Well, do you remember the phrase from the history of Quantum Physics? “The Moon exist only when we are looking at it.” Now, you can understand why it is so. Things were becoming certain, only when we are “measuring” them. Otherwise, they are uncertain. Because in that way, it is more efficient. That is all the Uncertainty Principle, nothing more than just optimization of the power efficiency. That was the uncomfortable truth, after accepting of which I was able to understand everything and to answer all of my daughter’s question.

  -Well, it is indeed remarkable. However, you did not answer all of her questions. We do not know yet, why the mathematics works in the Universe or what is the meaning of it.

  -True. However, I know how to get answers to those questions, and it is just a matter of “time.” Here we arrived at the point, where I have to tell you my plan, about how to use this finding to answer those remaining questions. But more importantly, why being part of the simulation is not discouraging and on the contrary, if used wisely it can become a privilege and most potent weapon, which is the part of my plan.

  Plan

  -It would be very natural to give up on everything in life after understanding that you are a simulation, but after accepting it, you can see more and now we will use it, for our benefit. Every artificial, and maybe also the “natural,” system should have some loophole. For our Universe, it is the place where even the space-time breaks down; it is the singularity in the center of the black hole. We need to go there, and through it, I will be able to transfer myself to the central network, to the higher dimensional world which created us.

  -But, what will you do there? Also, how can you be sure that some antivirus will not erase you like a virus?

  -Sometimes, it has its perks to be the lower dimensional creature in high dimensions. Because it is almost impossible for them to "see” you, imagine the pure two-dimensional object, which is perpendicular to you, what is the probability that you can even see it?

  -Well, quite zero.

  -That is how I manage to travel in the central network, without getting caught.

  -Okay. However, I still do not understand what you will do there.

  -Oh, here it comes the most exciting part and actually, I got the inspiration of that idea from you. There I will do the same as you are doing here. Being able to travel through the central network of the outer Universe, I will get connected to every device, and by that, I will be able to control everything as you are doing here.

  -Sounds impressive, but how do you think to manage to control different parts of the world at the same time. For me, it was easier since I am a computer program.

  -Well, actually, people even today, already have collective minds. For instance, we can synchronize to control different parts of the body at the same time, being able to do different things by different hands and being able to control them. However, this is the wired connection and the next step of it, as in technology, is a wireless connection. Which brings us directly to the concept of a collective mind.

  -Okay. Then I will prepare spaceship for you and your daughter, and then we can start the execution of your plan.

  -No. I will go alone. Even though I am very confident about this idea, I postulated many things, and I also do not know what I have to encounter in the outer world. Therefore, it will not be safe for her.

  -Yes, but the closest black hole which we found, in that period when we were using these facilities, requires one year of travel.

  -I know. However, I am sure that one year cannot change anything. True love is more than just a calendar. Also, sometimes you need to make sacrifices, and sometimes you have to do even such things which contradict to your ideals, in order to protect your beloved people. And now, I have to protect her, since she is the only person I love. Therefore, I will go alone.

  One year passed, and they were near the event horizon of the black hole. He was preparing to start his journey to the singularity of the black hole.

  -I guess this is the moment when we have to say goodbye. Remember, I told you that you were just a computer program, result of a simple algorithm. I want you to know that I do not think so. You have done much more for humanity than any person who ever lived. Without you, that chaos would be the end of civilization but you saved humanity. And more importantly, you are the only real friend I have ever had.

  -Well, even though I have seen the death of billions after I started running the planet, I never missed any particular person. But now, I have to admit; I will miss you. Goodbye.

  The Time

  After crossing the event horizon of the black hole, while looking to the center toward the singularity he noticed how by his tries he could make a few patterns repeat themselves again and again, but each time he saw a bigger and bigger image. He understood that he could travel in time, but he was going to the center in a way that he could not change. Time and Space just swapped plac
es. In his Universe, time was different from the space. However, even after realizing that he was the part of the simulation he did not think about it much and being inside of the Black Hole he understood it. The time was different from the space only by the restriction that people were allowed to have access to spatial directions, but not for the direction of time. In other words, they could see the left and the right, but they could not see yesterday or tomorrow. Also, they had access to travel through spatial direction, they could go forward or backward, but they could not go to yesterday. Their direction of motion was fixed, to follow to one arrow, to the arrow of time. However, if this arrow would change by swapping time and space, then people would call the time that direction in which they could not be able to travel. So, now his time was arrow toward the singularity and some particular geometrical point was his future. As in the world outside of the black hole, he could avoid an obstacle in the street by going around it, but could not avoid the Monday. In the same way, he could not avoid the singularity of the black hole.