The following features are expected of a virtual reality but not an objective one (click end link for details):
1. A beginning. Astronomers see the stars and galaxies moving away from us at known rates so they can calculate back that our universe began over fourteen billion years ago. But how can a universe that is all there is begin? There is nothing outside itself to create it, it can’t create itself before it began because it didn’t exist then, and a universe that came from nothing defies logic. Speculating on D-branes, wormholes, alternate universes, teleporting or oscillating universes doesn’t help. In contrast, every virtual reality is expected to boot up, in an event that also begins its space and time. It follows that the “big bang” was just when our universe booted up (1.4.2).
2. A maximum speed. Nothing travels faster than light in our world but this limit makes no sense, as a matter object should always be able to go a bit faster. In contrast, the pixel-to-pixel transfer rate of a screen is expected to be limited by its refresh rate. It follows that the speed of light limit just reflects the refresh rate of space (3.2.4).
3. Space and time are digital. Quantum theory requires time and space to change in tiny Planck steps, but an objective reality should be continuous not digital. In contrast, a virtual reality is always made of undividable pixels and irreducible cycles. It follows that our space and time are digital because our world has a resolution and cycle rate, respectively (2.2.1).
4. Tunneling. Tunneling is when an electron appears outside a field barrier it can’t pass through, like a coin in a perfectly sealed glass bottle suddenly appearing outside it. Matter shouldn’t move to a point that no path allows, but it does. In contrast, a virtual reality can cut from one frame to the next without an intervening path. It follows that tunneling is just matter jumping from one frame to next, as it always does (5.3.1).
5. Entanglement. Two photons moving apart at the speed of light shouldn’t be able to affect each other but entangled photons do, as observing either spin makes the other have the opposite, regardless of distance. Einstein called it spooky action at a distance because it ignored the speed of light. In contrast, a server can alter any points of a screen instantly, regardless of screen “distance”. It follows that when photons entangle, their servers merge to instantly control both for any event (3.8.5).
6. Space curves. According to relativity, the sun keeps the earth in orbit by curving space around it, but how can a three-dimensional space curve? Our space can’t curve into the imaginary dimensions of physics if they aren’t real. In contrast, our space as a screen surface is expected to curve, as some TV screens do. It follows that our space is a three-dimensional surface that can curve into a four-dimensional quantum network (2.4.1).
7. Time dilates. Einstein argued that a man who travelled the universe in a high-speed rocket could return a year later to find his twin brother on earth was an old man of eighty! Relativity requires time to slow down at high speeds and particle research agrees, but how can matter alter time? In contrast, every gamer knows that their screen slows down during a big battle. It follows that time slows down at high speed because it takes longer to run more events in a virtual reality (5.2.4).
8. Randomness. Radioactive atoms emit photons randomly, in a way that physical history can’t predict. Physical reality doesn’t allow non-physical causes so the mechanical multiverse was invented, that every quantum event spawns a new universe, which is ludicrous. In contrast, in a virtual reality, the server is expected to choose screen events, not the screen. It follows what is random to us is just the quantum server choosing where physical events occur (3.5.3).
9. Space isn’t empty. If only matter is real, the space between it should be nothing at all, but in the Casimir effect, flat plates held close in a vacuum experience a force pushing them together. Current physics attributes it to virtual particles from the void, but how can nothing cause something? In contrast, a blank screen switched on isn’t doing nothing, as it can show static. It follows that at close to the pixel resolution, the asynchronous null processing of space can produce a pressure (2.4.5).
10. Wave-particle duality. In Young’s two-slit experiment, one photon can go through two slits at once, interfere with itself like a wave, then arrive at a screen point like a particle. Matter can’t do this, so wave-particle duality was invented, that particles can be waves, but logically they can’t. In contrast, a processing wave can go through two slits to interfere but still restart at a point. It follows that wave-particle duality is quantum waves restarting to look like particles in a physical event (3.5.2).
11. Black holes. A big mass in a small space can collapse into what is called a black hole. Most galaxies, including ours, have a black hole at their center. Matter is said to collapse to an infinitely dense point singularity, but why then do black holes increase in size when they absorb matter? In contrast, a virtual space is expected to have a maximum bandwidth that it can handle. It follows that a black hole is matter filling the bandwidth of space, so it has a size and isn’t a singularity (5.4.6).
12. Superposition. Quantum theory lets superposed currents simultaneously flow both ways around a superconducting ring (Cho, 2000), which can’t happen physically. In contrast, processing spreading on a network is expected to overlap, as each point can run many processes, up to its bandwidth. It follows that superposition is just processing overlapping as it spreads (3.8.1).
13. Non-physical detection. A bomb so sensitive that just one photon will set it off should be impossible to detect but a Mach-Zehnder interferometer can do just that (Kwiat, Weinfurter, Herzog, Zeilinger, & Kasevich, 1995). Non-physical detection shouldn’t happen, but in our world it does. In contrast, in a virtual world we don’t know what lies behind a door but the system does. It follows that non-physical detection is when we trick the system to reveal what it knows (3.8.4).
14. Retrospective action. In delayed choice experiments, observing a photon as it travels defines its path before the observation, suggesting that the future can affect the past, which undermines all physics. In contrast, a virtual reality is expected to calculate every path but not choose one until the last moment. It follows that retrospective action is a photon wave taking every path until a physical event chooses its pysical path, so there is no time travel (3.8.3).
15. Anti-matter exists. Quantum equations predicted anti-matter but objective matter has no need for an inverse of the same mass but opposite charge. In contrast, if processing generates matter, it must also be able to run in reverse. It follows that anti-matter is just the processing behind matter running in reverse, so every matter entity must have an inverse, as it does (4.3.5).
The fifteen facts above suggest that the physical world is virtual not objective. A scientific experiment to test both theories is proposed in 4.5.9, but for now one can argue that:
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Given these facts, the dictum of Sherlock Holmes applies:
When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
The evidence so far establishes a prima facie case that the physical world is a virtual reality.