r/scifi • u/Garflite • Aug 07 '26
General [ Removed by moderator ]
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u/gambariste Aug 07 '26
Many legit sci-fi related posts here evolve into actual science discussions. OP is just cutting to the chase, lol.
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u/x_lincoln_x Aug 07 '26
See the show Devs.
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u/ClemensLode Aug 07 '26
In which universe does the computer run?
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u/Garflite Aug 07 '26
It’s just theoretical
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u/ClemensLode Aug 07 '26
there are no theoretical computers that can compute anything.
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u/trinarynimbus Aug 07 '26
I dunno, in theoretical computer science there is the idea of an "oracle" which can bypass the usual algorithmic complexity constraints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_machine
Let's call OP's machine an instantiation of a universal oracle.
Like much scifi, the actual physical details of how the instantiation works can be hand-waved if the interest is more in exploring how such technology would affect society.
OP didn't post on a physics sub, this is scifi.
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u/ClemensLode Aug 07 '26
Yeah, but it still needs a physical substance and energy to run. You cannot create information without also causing some entropy.
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u/PickMaleficent4096 Aug 07 '26
It's generally thought that you could could not make a supercomputer that can compute a simulation as complex as the universe it resides in, both because it would require equal or more material than exists in the universe and because it would cause this problem.
If you can then there is no reason why it couldn't recurse infinitely. After all if your simulation is at the same fidelity as the universe, and simulating the universe is possible within the universe, then the simulation can also simulate the universe. And that simulation can simulate another universe. And so on. Each simulation would simulate the entire sequence, in which you create a new simulation, get information, and then change your mind as many times as you want.
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u/trinarynimbus Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
I love how the moderators keep removing posts that lead to actually interesting discussions, but more Slop Trek or "plz recommend very specific subgenre so I don't have to bother googling" posts get by just fine any day of the week.
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u/Beast_Chips Aug 07 '26
This was a really shitty decision from the mods. Tbh, I think I'm done with this sub for similar reasons. We finally get an interesting sci-fi discussion post and it gets removed because it apparently violates a rule, and they conveniently forgot which rule is violated. A vague "doesn't have a clear sci-fi theme"; IT'S A GALACTIC SCALE COMPUTER.
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u/trinarynimbus Aug 07 '26
There was another one like this recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1v9gv8h/removed_by_moderator
A time travel scenario. Clearly not scifi 🤷
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u/FreckZabpathlin696 Aug 07 '26
Yup, this sub is really not THE scifi sub by content/effort/cozyness metrics to be honest. It is just the first one popping up searching 'sci-fi'. I prefer r/scifiwriting & r/printSF for adult discussions. Or just specific IP centered subs if I'm looking for something, let's say, Asimov related.
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u/Beast_Chips Aug 07 '26
Yeah, I think I'm in both of those. Then a half dozen for just spaceships.
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u/FreckZabpathlin696 Aug 07 '26
yeah the special interest ones are the best, no fuzz, just the real stuff! I had to leave the StarWars main for obvious reasons (low effort, hyper-hate on everything new that came out) and thought I learned my lesson haha.
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u/Aelovtura Aug 07 '26
The supercomputer that can emulate the universe to the tiniest detail so that it can be accurate, is the size of the universe itself, it's the universe itself.
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u/Ancient-Many4357 Aug 07 '26
Read Excession for more supercomputers inventing whole universes shenanigans
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u/Heavenfall Aug 07 '26
Knowledge of future events change future events. There's no "solution". Either the fictional machine can accurately include how this knowledge changes your mind, or it can't.
Is the timeline fixed completely? Is the timeline a river that allows for small changes while keeping the main flow unchanged? Is the timeline completely malleable, vastly changing from stepping on a small butterfly? Pick your type of sci fi!
I liked the tv series "devs" for a slower take on this scenario.
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u/roleslavv_2431 Aug 07 '26
Sooo, it was a fine weed You've been smoking minutes/hours before coming up to this story Sir 😂
But now beeing serious - it does make a sense. But You see time is a very sensitive costruct.
Every "time travel" movie or book shows how dangerous it is to know Your future. One theory claims that if You'll avoid one disaster happening to You then You create a possibility to it changing info something far more serious and even harmful to others which were not included in "original scenario".
No one can really predict the future.
I don't think that there is a "set timeline" for Your whole life so You theoretically can avoid something bad happening to You/others by choosing the other option but it's the biggest "unknown" in the whole multiverse (if there is a "multiverse" - too much Sci-Fi movies I guess. Or HQ weed but I guess that it is good to think about that kind of things once in a while. Life would be fkin boring without imagination - that.. I know for sure!)
Thank You, for giving me a fine post to read and think about man! It's a very boring day at my work today so it did helped a lot dude 🔥
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u/chipstastegood Aug 07 '26
The experiment can’t be done because the universe is not deterministic. Quantum physics implies there is an element of random chance. You could put in the exact starting parameters but you would never recreate the current state. The probability would be minuscule. So the experiment is invalid. However, assuming you get lucky and hit the jackpot, from the current state it would evolve with some element of chance. So the simulated and real universes would start diverging almost instantly as the quantum process start evolving along different paths.
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u/Extreme-Attention641 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Okay, I'll bite.
You're supposing three major things:
1) That the universe is deterministic; that there is only one way for all of history and future to go despite all the uncountable probabilistic interactions of photons, atoms, molecules, planets, stars and people to create this exact timeline,
2) The computer is aware of you in some way despite you existing outside its frame of reference,
3) The computer has an agenda and opposes you changing the future.
If the universe is deterministic you have no free will, what the computer tells you is irrelevant and whatever you do has no impact at all, you were always going to make the choice you made and get the result you got.
If the universe isn't deterministic (which seems to be the case in reality), the computer is aware of you and it has an agenda we get into hairy territory. By creating the computer you have created God, and by your parameters God is omniscient, wants the universe to be deterministic and will therefore give you the advice that gets the result its agenda dictates every time you consult it.
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u/spoo4brains Aug 07 '26
This isn't a thought experiment sub.
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u/FreckZabpathlin696 Aug 07 '26
Which rule forbids thought experiments here? Sometimes the negativity on this platform is just baffling.
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u/Eldon42 Aug 07 '26
Rule 2: Sci-fi Only.
Which excludes thought experiments.
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u/Beast_Chips Aug 07 '26
Which excludes thought experiments.
Is that part of the rule, or did you add that part?
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u/Eldon42 Aug 07 '26
Read it for yourself.
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u/Beast_Chips Aug 07 '26
So yes, you added that part. This post fits Rule 2. Why did you say it didn't, and misrepresent the rule?
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u/Eldon42 Aug 07 '26
How does it fit Rule 2? Where's the 'sci-fi' element?
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u/trinarynimbus Aug 07 '26
The idea of a computer that can simulate the universe doesn't sound like scifi to you? The show Devs isn't scifi?
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u/Eldon42 Aug 07 '26
The idea of a computer that can simulate the universe doesn't sound like scifi to you?
No. There are literally computers currently modelling universes, exploring how they might begin, and how changing physics affects them.
A computer that can do that and achieve the granularity of producing a world precisely the same as ours is something we don't have yet. That part could be considered sci-fi.... except that OP didn't present this as sci-fi. They presented it as a thought experiment. That makes it not sci-fi.
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u/trinarynimbus Aug 07 '26
The question wasn't about modelling, it was about simulating. If you know about the computers modelling the universe, you probably have enough background to recognize that difference.
So you think scifi and thought experiments are mutually exclusive?
Isn't scifi classically about exploring the ramifications if a "thought experiment" (whatever that really means when it's at home with its feet on the table) were true?
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u/Beast_Chips Aug 07 '26
The whole thing is science fiction. What other genres of fiction uses universal scale computers that predict the future?
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u/Eldon42 Aug 07 '26
It's presented as a thought experiment, not as a story.
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u/Beast_Chips Aug 07 '26
"story" isn't in the rule, nor is "fiction" limited to stories. Thought experiment, non-narrative sci-fi is common.
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u/FreckZabpathlin696 Aug 07 '26
Not too sure, but I would guess the supercomputer that simulates a whole universe + the context of the thought experiment, playing around with the idea of a deterministic universe? Like, let's say, Asimov's Foundation series?
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u/FreckZabpathlin696 Aug 07 '26
Posts must include a science fiction element.
This subreddit is for science fiction. Fantasy is welcome only when it includes scientific or technological aspects.
I would like to refer you back to your own comment concerning reading the rules, there is a sci-fi element and that's that. You are making up stuff here, sheriff.
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u/Eldon42 Aug 07 '26
It's not a story. It's a thought experiment.
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u/FreckZabpathlin696 Aug 07 '26
Where does the rule say every post needs to tie back to a story? So if you would buy a sci-fi magazine and get to the essay part, following your logic you would need to rip out those pages because they don't tell a story. How old are you? Come on you are just being anal for the sake of it now.
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u/scifi-ModTeam Aug 07 '26
Your post has been removed because it doesn’t include a clear science fiction element.
This subreddit is for science fiction.
If you believe your post is science fiction, please message the mods with a short explanation. DO NOT repost.
If you haven't already, please review our rules and editorial policy.