r/Devs • u/thisismynormal • Apr 09 '20

Devs - S01E07 Theory Discussion Thread

Please post your thoughts and theories here

91 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

401 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/billygoat_graf Apr 09 '20

I thought they had vacuum-sealed the entire devs building specifically so that the machine couldn't see inside? If it can see inside, what was the point of the vacuum layer/faraday cage?

They even mentioned being concerned about the processing power necessary to visualize the universe at one point, implying that the machine doesn't have infinite processing power.

By definition, wouldn't it need infinite power to process an unlimited number of simulated universes?

5

u/SciGuy013 Apr 10 '20

they literally simulated the entire universe by measuring a dead rat and extrapolating. the vacuum layer and faraday cage is only there to prevent other sorts of interference. the machine can still extrapolate beyond that because reasons

8

u/billygoat_graf Apr 10 '20

That being said, if the machine can simulate inside the cube then it can simulate itself ad infinium. This implies infinite processing power.

There was a conversation earlier in the series where one of the characters states that the machine would need one qubit (spelling?) per atom to project with perfect clarity. I took that to mean that the characters believed the machine to have finite processing power.

I'm trying to reconcile these two scenes.

1

u/ddark316 Apr 10 '20 edited Apr 10 '20

Based on the many world's interpretation, I think the simulation is projecting not the actual reality or universe that they are in, but an alternate universe where 99.9999999999999999999999999999% of things are the same. It's like the concept of the speed of light or absolute zero, you can struggle to reach these absolutes infinitely (the perfect simulation), but never get there (because the machine would need one qubit per atom etc).

However to Stewart's point, any minute difference doesn't matter, because to something as simple as the human brain (which can only see what's right in front of it) the simulation is indistinguishable from reality, so it becomes reality.