An increasingly popular genre of entertainment - in both books and movies - is a form of science fiction that deals with one of the frontiers of the computer industry: virtual reality.

Playing off of the explorations being pursued at MIT's Media Laboratory, a popular excursion in current entertainment is to stipulate advances in technology - in both software and hardware - being applied to a "super computer game" in which an entire simulated world is created, with virtual people living virtual lives, etc.

(The Matrix and the far more provocative The Thirteenth Floor are current examples.)

The typical plot line involves experimenters transitioning to actually participate, for a time, in a simulated virtual world. Consciousness is recognized as simply a software aspect, not hardware.

Plot twists occur when the experimenters discover that their own "real" world is also someone else's simulation, and they, too, are virtual beings in a virtual world, etc. In The Thirteenth Floor, this even extends to a surprising additional level that challenges our conceptions of past, present, and future.

But What About Us?

Clever entertainment, but with a deeply provocative and disturbing suggestion: Is our own "reality" virtual? One implication of these conjectures is the insight that both our own behavior and even our "physical reality" can be viewed as simply software, a super-program running within a highly advanced environment.¹ We know today that our physical world is, in a very real sense, a digital "simulation."

(Perhaps our earth is round to prevent our discovering a boundary condition restricting our own simulation limits?)

The field of biology has now discovered it is restricted by the boundary conditions of the information sciences. Its historical love affair with Darwinism is now being shattered by advances in microbiology, highlighted by the disturbing revelations of Michael Denton, Philip Johnson, and Michael Behe, et al., revealing biology's apparent immunity to truth and reason.²

But now the field of physics, too, is in turmoil. Quantum physics has resulted in the abandonment of causality, the cornerstone of empirical science. And whether we address the units of length, mass, or time, we discover that they are composed of indivisible units that ultimately cannot be divided without losing their "locality."³

The more one knows about particle physics and quantum mechanics, the more provocative these "science fiction" episodes become. Indeed, it was Dr. Albert Einstein that admitted,

People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between the past, present, and the future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

And as physics goes, so too the entire field of cosmology. I believe it was Paul Davies who observed,

It is as if our entire universe is nothing more than a thought in the Mind of God.

The current genre of virtual reality films, while still retaining many of the moral deficiencies that have come to characterize the products of our entertainment industry, can still be provocative and useful in conceptualizing our present situation: we find ourselves in what can be accurately described as a digital simulation.

And transitions in and out of our space-time - from one "hyperspace" to another - is a potential rationalization of the more disturbing UFO reports and other apparent visits from dimensionalities other than our own.

It is also a way of conceptualizing the strangest transition of all: the harpazo, the "Great Snatch," which Paul alludes to in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-53.

(A "twinkling of an eye" is not to be confused with a blink; at the speed of light passing through the retina, it is about 10^-43 seconds - the very digital boundary of time itself.)

The Ultimate Love Story

The very nature of our time dimension is but a small island in the sea of eternity. It is an experiment of sorts, designed to demonstrate Infinite Love: allowing man, endowed with autonomous free will, to get himself into a predicament from which he is powerless to extricate himself; and, from which only the death of the Designer Himself could suffice. Indeed, it is a love story, written in blood on a wooden cross erected in Judea almost two millennia ago...

The Ultimate Resolution

We have just enjoyed a season celebrating "giving." But a more profound aspect than "giving" is receiving: receiving the Ultimate Gift within our reality; the very gift that guarantees our successful transition to that ultimate reality, the perpetual and comprehensive fellowship with our Designer.

Have you discovered that Ultimate Gift? If you haven't yet, the most exciting adventure imaginable lies just ahead.

If you have received that Ultimate Gift, what have you done with it?

* * *

1. A radical molecule-sized computer switch has just been announced at the International Electronic Device Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 6. It was reported in the Nov. 19, 1999 issue of Science, "Large On-Off Ratios and Negative Differential Resistance in a Molecular Electronic Device," by graduate student Jia Chen and professor Mark Reed of Yale University, and graduate student Adam Rawlett and James Tour, the Chao Professor of Chemistry of Rice University.
2. Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Adler & Adler, Bethesda MD, 1985; Philip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove IL, 1991; also, Reason in the Balance, InterVarsity Press, 1995; Michael J. Behe, Darwin's Black Box, Simon & Schuster, New York NY, 1996.
3. For an exploration of the Biblical implications of quantum physics, see our Briefing Package, Beyond Perception, on page 37 of this issue; also, Chapter 23, "Our Digital Universe," in the section on "Metacodes" in our book, Cosmic Codes - Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity, Koinonia House, 1999, pages 333-346.

   What Is Truth?

   by Chuck Missler 

   This is the classic question that Pilate posed rhetorically ...and rather cynically. And the very existence of truth is continuing to be trampled by pompous professors, prostituted politicians, and arrogant attorneys. Now with the blockbuster movie, The Da Vinci Code, promoting blasphemous heresies about the embodiment of Truth itself, we can’t escape this skillfully coordinated attack against those who take truth seriously. Yet, the pursuit of truth is our most critical of endeavors and upon which our eternal destiny rests.

   Epistemology is the study of knowledge, its scope and limits. And yet this most basic of studies is rarely dealt with today. How do we really ''know''? How do we determine what is really true, rather than that which is just traditionally accepted? What are our tools for validation?

   As we began in the very limited universe of our playpen, our primary reliance on learning techniques was empirical: trial and error. As our universe gradually expanded to include our room, our home, our school, and our community, our primary epistemological tools increasingly relied on external guidance, qualified and validated by means of our internal processing. (See chart, right.) As our universe of interest expands from our community to the world, and ultimately to the cosmos itself, our tools increasingly rely on external guidance rather than trial and error! Qualifying our sources of information becomes increasingly critical. Yet, what tools can we use to qualify our sources of information?

   The Boundaries of Our Reality

   In inventorying our available epistemological tools, we must first understand the boundaries of our reality. One of the startling discoveries of 20th century science is that our universe is finite. It has limits in regards to both the macrocosm - there is a limit to ''largeness'' - and the microcosm - there is a limit to ''smallness''! It is astonishing to realize that we actually live within a digital simulation of reality. In the macrocosm, we now know that the universe is finite, having begun at a ''singularity,'' and will ultimately suffer a thermodynamic ''heat death'' when it finally exhausts the available energy.

   What is perhaps the most surprising is the discovery that, in the microcosm, everything - length, mass, even time itself - is made up of indivisible units - called ''quanta.'' When subatomic particles are ''divided'' they lose ''locality.'' The property of ''non locality'' is one of the deepest mysteries of quantum physics, and it shatters all of our previous notions of ''reality.'' A recent issue of Scientific American suggested that what we perceive as physical reality now appears to be a mere shadow of a larger reality.¹

   To begin to understand our boundaries, we would need to probe the perceptions of both the macrocosm and the microcosm and apply the tools of hypothesis testing to validate our assumptions. This, too, might prove an exercise in futility were it not for a distinct, and self-validating, message from outside those very boundaries!

   While most of us think of our space as three-dimensional, we now know, thanks to Dr. Einstein, that we actually live in four: time itself is a physical property of our ''space.'' (The Apostle Paul also indicated this four-dimensional reality in his letter to the Ephesians.²)

   Scientists currently believe we live in ten dimensions. (Something that Nachmonides, a 13th century Hebrew sage, concluded in his commentary on the Book of Genesis!) It is toward this hyperspace (a space of more than 3-dimensions) that our conceptions of the real ''reality'' must reach to have any validity. Fortunately, we have in our possession a verifiable message of hyper-dimensional origin that will be the subject of the next article in this series.

   See this month’s featured briefing package, What is Truth?, for a more detailed discussion. It is available on audio tape cassette, audio CD, DVD and downloadable MP3.

    

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   **FOR A MORE IN-DEPTH STUDY**
   

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   What Is Truth? - DVD - Chuck Missler Join Chuck Missler as he examines the boundaries of our reality, explores ways to qualify sources of information, offers advice on testing hypothesis, and reveals the source of Ultimate Truth. Click for more information - DVD

    
   This article was originally published in the
   June 2006 Personal Update NewsJournal.
   

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   **NOTES**
   

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4. ''The Inconstancy of Constants,'' Scientific American, June 2005, p. 57-63.
5. Ephesians 3:18.

Quantum Physics: The Boundaries of Reality - Chuck Missler

Beyond Perception - Particle Physics And The Boundaries of Reality

• Hebrew Cabalists theorized 800 years ago that God established the universe with 10 dimensions.
• Why do scientists now also believe we live in a 10-dimensional universe?
• Has physics finally reached the very boundaries of reality?

  Particle Physics And The Boundaries of Reality

  Beyond Perception

  66/40 Radio Broadcast

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  THIS BROADCAST:

  Hebrew Cabalists theorized 800 years ago that God established the universe with 10 dimensions. Why do scientists now also believe we live in a 10-dimensional universe? Has physics finally reached the very boundaries of reality? Discoveries in Quantum Physics Listen to Part 1 »  Our 10 Dimensional Universe Listen to Part 2 »  Hyperspaces Listen to Part 3 »  Physicists Explain the Nature of Reality Listen to Part 4 »  Biblical Implications of the Nature of Reality Listen to Part 5 » Radio Broadcast will open in a new window. If this doesn’t happen, please disable popup blockers. Quantum Physics: The Boundaries of Reality by Chuck Missler Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email More Sharing Services 15 Print this article PURSUE THIS TOPIC: RESOURCES The Creator Beyond Time and Space Series with Mp3 The Creator Beyond Time and Space Series The startling discovery of modern science is that our physical universe is actually finite. Scientists now acknowledge that the universe had a beginning. They call the singularity from which it all began the "Big Bang." While the details among the many variants of these theories remain quite controversial, the fact that there was a definite beginning has gained widespread agreement.1 This is, of course, what the Bible has maintained throughout its 66 books. From thermodynamic considerations, it also appears that all processes in the universe inevitably contribute the losses from their inefficiencies to the ambient temperature, and thus the universe ultimately will attain a uniform temperature in which no work - all of which ultimately derives from temperature differences - will be able to be accomplished. Scientists call this ultimate physical destiny the "heat death." Mankind, therefore, finds itself caught in the finite interval between the singularity that began it all and a finite termination. The mathematical concept of infinity - in any spatial direction or in terms of time - seems astonishingly absent in the physical macrocosm, the domain of the astronomers and cosmologists. In the microcosmic domain, there also appears to be an even more astonishing boundary to smallness. If we take a segment of length, we can divide it in half. We can take one of the remaining halves, and we can divide it in half again. We naturally assume that this can go on forever. We assume that no matter how small a length we end up dealing with, we can always - at least conceptually - divide any remainder in half. It turns out that this is not true. There is a length known as the Planck length, 10-33 centimeters, that is indivisible. The same thing is true of mass, energy, and even time. There is a unit of time which cannot be subdivided: 10-43 seconds. It is in this strange world of subatomic behavior that scientists have now encountered the very boundaries of physical reality, as we experience it. The study of these subatomic components is called quantum mechanics, or quantum physics. The startling discovery made by the quantum physicists is that if you break matter into smaller and smaller pieces you eventually reach a point where those pieces - electrons, protons, et al. - no longer possess the traits of objects. Although they can sometimes behave as if they were a compact little particle, physicists have found that they literally possess no dimension. Another disturbing discovery of the physicists is that a subatomic particle, such as an electron, can manifest itself as either a particle or a wave. If you shoot an electron at a television screen that has been turned off, a tiny point of light will appear when it strikes the phosphorescent chemicals that coat the glass. The single point of impact which the electron leaves on the screen clearly reveals the particle-like side of its nature. But that is not the only form the electron can assume. It can also dissolve into a blurry cloud of energy and behave as if it were a wave spread out over space. When an electron manifests itself as a wave, it can do things no particle can. If it is fired at a barrier in which two slits have been cut, it can go through both slits simultaneously. When wavelike electrons collide with each other they even create interference patterns. It is interesting that in 1906, J. J. Thomson received the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are particles. In 1937 he saw his son awarded the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons were waves. Both father and son were correct. From then on, the evidence for the wave/particle duality has become overwhelming. This chameleon-like ability is common to all subatomic particles. Called quanta, they can manifest themselves either as a particle or a wave. What makes them even more astonishing is that there is compelling evidence that the only time quanta ever manifest themselves as particles is when we are looking at them. The Danish physicist Niels Bohr pointed out that if subatomic particles only come into existence in the presence of an observer, then it is also meaningless to speak of a particle's properties and characteristics as existing before they are observed. But if the act of observation actually helped create such properties, what does that imply about the future of science? Anyone who isn't shocked by quantum physics has not understood it. Niels Bohr It gets worse. Some subatomic processes result in the creation of a pair of particles with identical or closely related properties. Quantum physics predicts that attempts to measure complementary characteristics on the pair - even when traveling in opposite directions - would always be frustrated. Such strange behavior would imply that the particles would have to be interconnected in some way so as to be instantaneously in communication with each other. One physicist who was deeply troubled by Bohr's assertions was Dr. Albert Einstein. Despite the role Einstein had played in the founding of quantum theory, he was not pleased with the course the fledgling science had taken. In 1935 Einstein and his colleagues Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen published their now-famous paper, "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?"2 The problem, according to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The instantaneous communication implied by the view of quantum physics would be tantamount to breaking the time barrier and would open the door to all kinds of unacceptable paradoxes. Einstein and his colleagues were convinced that no "reasonable definition" of reality would permit such faster-than-light interconnections to exist, and therefore Bohr had to be wrong. Their argument is now known as the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, or EPR paradox for short. Bohr remained unperturbed by Einstein's argument. Rather than believing that some kind of faster-than-light communication was taking place, he offered another explanation: If subatomic particles do not exist until they are observed, then one could no longer think of them as independent "things." Thus Einstein was basing his argument on an error when he viewed twin particles as separate. They were part of an indivisible system, and it was meaningless to think of them otherwise. In time, most physicists sided with Bohr and became content that his interpretation was correct. One factor that contributed to Bohr's following was that quantum physics had proved so spectacularly successful in predicting phenomena, few physicists were willing to even consider the possibility that it might be faulty in some way. The entire industries of lasers, microelectronics, and computers have emerged on the reliability of the predictions of quantum physics. The popular Cal Tech physicist Richard Feynman has summed up this paradoxical situation well: I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics... In fact, it is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. Some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it, in fact, is that it is unquestionably correct. When Einstein and his colleagues first made their proposal, technical reasons prevented any empirical experiments actually being performed. The broader philosophical implications were, ironically, ignored and swept under the carpet. Hyperspaces The ancient Hebrew scholar Nachmonides, writing in the 12th century, concluded from his studies of the text of Genesis that the universe has ten dimensions: that four are knowable and six are beyond our knowing. Particle physicists today have also concluded that we live in ten dimensions. Three spatial dimensions and time are directly discernible and measurable. The remaining six are "curled" in less than the Planck length (10-33 centimeters) and thus are only inferable by indirect means.3 (Some physicists believe that there may be as many as 26 dimensions.4 Ten and twenty-six emerge from the mathematics associated with superstring theory, a current candidate in the pursuit of a theory to totally integrate all known forces in the universe.) Fracture in Genesis 3? There is a provocative conjecture that these ten (or more) dimensions were originally integrated, but suffered a fracture as a result of the events summarized in Genesis Chapter 3. The resulting upheaval separated them into the "physical" and "spiritual" worlds. There appears to be some Scriptural basis for an original close coupling between the spiritual and physical world. The highly venerated Onkelos translation of Genesis 1:31 emphasizes that "...it was a unified order." The suggestion is that the current physics, including the entropy laws, ("the bondage of decay") were a result of the fall.5 The entropy laws reveal a universe that is "winding down." It had to have been initially "wound up." This windup - the reduction of entropy, or the infusion of order (information) - is described in Genesis 1 in a series of six stages. The terms used in this progressive reduction of entropy (disorder) are, erev and boker, which ultimately led to their being translated "evening" and "morning." Erev and Boker Erev is dark, obscure randomness; it is maximum entropy. As darkness envelopes our horizon, we lose the ability to discern order or patterns. The darkness is "without form and void." From this term we derive the current sememe for "evening," when the encroaching darkness begins to deny us the ability to discern forms,shapes, and identities. Boker is the advent of light, where things begin to become discernible and visible; order begins to appear. This relief of obscurity, and the attendant ability to begin to discern forms, shapes, and identities has become associated with dawn or "morning," as the early twilight begins to reveal order and design. Evening and mornings constituted the principal stages of creation. Six "evenings" and "mornings" became the "days" constituting the creation "week." However, what we know about the physical universe is only from observing the universe after the upheavals of Genesis 3. This article was originally published in the July 1998 Personal Update NewsJournal. For a FREE 1-Year Subscription, click here. **NOTES** For a more complete discussion, see The Creator Beyond Time and Space, by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman. Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen, "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?" Physical Review, 47 (1935), p.777. Michio Kaku, Hyperspace, Oxford University Press, New York, 1994. Strangely, 26 is the gematria of the tetragamaton, YHWH. Hebrews 11:3; Romans 8:19-23; Psalm 102:25-27; Proverbs 16:33; Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 1:2-3; Colossians 1:16,17. **ADDITIONAL RELATED RESOURCES** The Creator Beyond Time and Space Series - Audio CD with Mp3 - Chuck Missler and Dr. Mark Eastman Includes: The Creator Beyond Time and Space, The Bible: An Extraterrestrial Message, Immanuel: The Deity of Messiah and The Divine Watchmaker Click for more information - Audio CD with MP3 The Creator Beyond Time and Space Series on CD-ROM - Chuck Missler and Dr. Mark Eastman Includes: The Creator Beyond Time and Space, The Bible: An Extraterrestrial Message, Immanuel: The Deity of Messiah and The Divine Watchmaker Click for more information - MP3 on CD-ROM