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“Substantial evidence” claimed for universe as a hologram

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timeline of our universe as hologram/Paul McFadden

From ScienceDaily:

A holographic universe, an idea first suggested in the 1990s, is one where all the information, which makes up our 3D ‘reality’ (plus time) is contained in a 2D surface on its boundaries.

Professor Kostas Skenderis of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton explains: “Imagine that everything you see, feel and hear in three dimensions (and your perception of time) in fact emanates from a flat two-dimensional field. The idea is similar to that of ordinary holograms where a three-dimensional image is encoded in a two-dimensional surface, such as in the hologram on a credit card. However, this time, the entire universe is encoded!”

Encoded? Funny that.

What’s the deal here?

Theoretical physicists and astrophysicists, investigating irregularities in the cosmic microwave background (the ‘afterglow’ of the Big Bang), have found there is substantial evidence supporting a holographic explanation of the universe — in fact, as much as there is for the traditional explanation of these irregularities using the theory of cosmic inflation. Paper. (paywall) – Niayesh Afshordi, Claudio Corianò, Luigi Delle Rose, Elizabeth Gould, Kostas Skenderis. From Planck Data to Planck Era: Observational Tests of Holographic Cosmology. Physical Review Letters, 2017; 118 (4) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.041301 More.

Well, one explanation could be that neither is a good theory. Cosmic inflation has the advantage that it makes apparent sense, but note: Planck satellite data says that big BICEP2 cosmic inflation multiverse was just dust.

Note: Occam’s Razor was last spotted looking for throats to slit.

Occam’s Razor: The simplest explanation that accounts for all the facts is to be preferred to others. Should we add an apparent war on Occam’s Razor to the war on falsifiability?

Before you go, see also: Universe is not a hologram after all?

Oh, not this again… Is the universe a hologram?

We are living in a giant hologram, or a giant trailer filled with poop, or whatever Stephen Hawking says we are living in

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Comments
Give me a buzzword and I will formulate a version of cosmology as bizarre as you wish. In this one, 'encoded' is the funniest bit. The same old the-universe-is-a-computer/hologram/clock/turtle Gnostic tale. "Deux ex machina", pagan thinking as old as this world. "Clever" impersonal laws of nature ruling over a mechanistic world. All you need to get ultimate control is know these laws. Magic. No need for a God and, consequently, no need for conscience.EugeneS
February 6, 2017
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I like this sort of theory, because it uses a lot of pure mathematics. The theory of everything is mathematics itself, it is the inevitable end of science.mohammadnursyamsu
February 3, 2017
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ppolish at 1: An English schoolmaster actually wrote a book about what it would be like, in the 1880s: http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~banchoff/Flatland/News
February 3, 2017
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"All the information that makes up our reality is 2D" Hard for me to imagine 2D. Page of a book? Nope, that is a 3D object. All material is 3D. Materialists live in a 3D world. A 2D world undermines the materialist worldview grrrr. What is something material that is truly 2D?ppolish
February 3, 2017
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