If the universe is closed, there is no room for an external observer

In the world of theoretical physics, the different articles that are published can be dry texts, full of equations with endless integrals. However, a recent article has broken this rule. Although its content is rigorously technical, it is a small footnote that has captured the public’s imagination: a direct reference to the theological implications of his mathematical discovery.

A universe without ‘outside’. To understand the reference that has been made to God, we must first understand the conclusion of the document. Harlow and his team address the quantum gravity problem in a closed universe. This, unlike the usual theoretical models that have “borders”, a closed universe It doesn’t have edges or an ‘exterior’ or anything..

In this way, the study indicates that the universe does not have an immense variety of possible states. It is a single, static and trivial state, so whatever has happened or what will happen will be contained in a single dimension.

The appearance of God. This is where the phrase that has shaken the networks comes in, since they affirm that if we are in a closed system with only one possible state, there is no place for an external observer. That is, a God.

This is something that clashes quite a bit with traditional physics and many theological and religious conceptions that suggest that there is someone or something that is observing the system with all its changes. Although for researchers, these implications are an exercise for the reader. They just give their own conclusion.

The meaning. As reported by media such as IFLScience and Knewzthis comment is a humorous but profound “wink”. It is not that the article attempts to prove or disprove the existence of a deity, but rather it points out a structural paradox.

What they point out is that if the universe contains everything and its state is unique, you cannot be “outside” it. Something that quite clashes with the classic theistic idea of ​​a God who exists separately from his creation, but who observes it from the outside. The problem is that for these scientists there is no outside.

Your opinions. The physicist and popularizer Brian Cox qualified the document and its bold footnote as “exhilarating”, highlighting how a purely mathematical question about Hilbert spaces ends up bordering on questions that used to be the exclusive domain of metaphysics.

The paradox. The article in this case raises a fascinating dichotomy that some philosophers of physics are already analyzing. What they propose is that if the “eye of God” sees the universe, they will only see a static point without any type of change. But from within we see a rich, chaotic and complex universe as we experience all its properties.

The authors solve this mathematically using quantum code theory and holography, suggesting that complexity is an illusion of internal perspective. But the theological joke remains: if God is the fundamental reality, then reality is incredibly simple. It is we who complicate it by observing it from within.

Images | Davide Cantelli

In Xataka | The Hand of God trying to reach a galaxy: an impressive image in which not everything is what it seems