I recently had an idea about this that might be more difficult for most people to wrap their brain around. It is more mind bending.
My idea depends upon whether the laws of physics are deterministic. Quantum theory claims that the universe is random on the quantum scale. However, I agree with Einstein that this reflects a physical reality that we are unable to detect and are unaware of. This is called, "hidden variables", and recently scientists have claimed to have disproven "local hidden variables". However, this claim I find questionable.
If the laws of physics are deterministic then it means that everything is predictable regardless whether or not it actually exists. Given a set of inputs and rules, you get the same outputs. For example, mathematical concepts like Pi would still exist even if we had never discovered them. Pi would still exist if we had never drawn a circle. (I agree with people who claim that things are not invented, but discovered. This also leads to much discussion about free will, claiming that we need a random universe to have free will.)
By this reasoning, if the universe is deterministic, we would be unable to distinguish whether we are real or just a mathematical pattern. Is the Mandelbrot set real, or just a mathematical pattern? It is "real" in the sense that mathematics produces it. The pattern would still be there if we had never discovered it.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
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