New research from UBC Okanagan suggests that this concept isn’t just improbable: it’s mathematically impossible.

Dr. Mir Faizal, an Adjunct Professor at UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, worked with an international team that includes Drs. Lawrence M. Krauss, Arshid Shabir, and Francesco Marino. Together, they have demonstrated that the deepest layers of reality function in a way that fundamentally no computer could ever replicate.

Their study, published in the Journal of Holography Applications in Physics, moves beyond the familiar idea that we might be living in a simulated reality similar to The Matrix. Instead, it presents a more profound conclusion: the universe itself is founded on a kind of understanding that cannot be captured or reproduced by any algorithm.

“It has been suggested that the universe could be simulated. If such a simulation were possible, the simulated universe could itself give rise to life, which in turn might create its own simulation. This recursive possibility makes it seem highly unlikely that our universe is the original one, rather than a simulation nested within another simulation,” says Dr. Faizal. “This idea was once thought to lie beyond the reach of scientific inquiry. However, our recent research has demonstrated that it can, in fact, be scientifically addressed.”

The research hinges on a fascinating property of reality itself. Modern physics has moved far beyond Newton’s tangible “stuff” bouncing around in space. Einstein’s theory of relativity replaced Newtonian mechanics. Quantum mechanics transformed our understanding again. Today’s cutting-edge theory—quantum gravity—suggests that even space and time aren’t fundamental. They emerge from something deeper: pure information.

This information exists in what physicists call a Platonic realm—a mathematical foundation more real than the physical universe we experience. It’s from this realm that space and time themselves emerge.