Skip to main content
Home
plus.maths.org

Secondary menu

  • My list
  • About Plus
  • Sponsors
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Log in
  • Main navigation

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Collections
  • Podcasts
  • Maths in a minute
  • Puzzles
  • Videos
  • Topics and tags
  • For

    • cat icon
      Curiosity
    • newspaper icon
      Media
    • graduation icon
      Education
    • briefcase icon
      Policy

      Popular topics and tags

      Shapes

      • Geometry
      • Vectors and matrices
      • Topology
      • Networks and graph theory
      • Fractals

      Numbers

      • Number theory
      • Arithmetic
      • Prime numbers
      • Fermat's last theorem
      • Cryptography

      Computing and information

      • Quantum computing
      • Complexity
      • Information theory
      • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
      • Algorithm

      Data and probability

      • Statistics
      • Probability and uncertainty
      • Randomness

      Abstract structures

      • Symmetry
      • Algebra and group theory
      • Vectors and matrices

      Physics

      • Fluid dynamics
      • Quantum physics
      • General relativity, gravity and black holes
      • Entropy and thermodynamics
      • String theory and quantum gravity

      Arts, humanities and sport

      • History and philosophy of mathematics
      • Art and Music
      • Language
      • Sport

      Logic, proof and strategy

      • Logic
      • Proof
      • Game theory

      Calculus and analysis

      • Differential equations
      • Calculus

      Towards applications

      • Mathematical modelling
      • Dynamical systems and Chaos

      Applications

      • Medicine and health
      • Epidemiology
      • Biology
      • Economics and finance
      • Engineering and architecture
      • Weather forecasting
      • Climate change

      Understanding of mathematics

      • Public understanding of mathematics
      • Education

      Get your maths quickly

      • Maths in a minute

      Main menu

    • Home
    • Articles
    • Collections
    • Podcasts
    • Maths in a minute
    • Puzzles
    • Videos
    • Topics and tags
    • Audiences

      • cat icon
        Curiosity
      • newspaper icon
        Media
      • graduation icon
        Education
      • briefcase icon
        Policy

      Secondary menu

    • My list
    • About Plus
    • Sponsors
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
    • Log in
    • It's all maths!

      10 February, 2014
      Max Tegmark

      Max Tegmark

      If the characters in computer games attain consciousness one day, they probably won't believe that they are living in a world that's entirely described by the 0s and 1s of computer code. But something similar might go for us, too. Max Tegmark, a physicist at MIT, argues that the Universe we live in is not just very well described by mathematics, but that it is a mathematical structure. It's an idea he explores in his book, Our mathematical Universe, and about which he talked to us in our recent interview in London.

      • Log in or register to post comments

      Anonymous

      10 February 2014

      Permalink

      Link on left (to download) works. Link on right does not.

      • Log in or register to post comments

      Marianne

      11 February 2014

      In reply to Tegmark interview by Anonymous

      Permalink

      Thanks for pointing that out! We've fixed it.

      • Log in or register to post comments

      Anonymous

      18 February 2014

      Permalink

      I have no deep knowledge of this matter but could it be that a wave function exists in many dimensions in Hilbert Space (which i understand has infinite dimensions) all at the same time and that we observe it in "our" 3 space and 1 time dimension

      When it changes (collapses) or divides into many other worlds it in fact simply manifests itself in a different dimensional profile in Hilbert space ie not in our 3 space + 1 time dimension so we cannot observe it

      example say a wave function has arbitrarily 10 dimensions in Hilbert space and we observe only 4 of them 3 space+ 1 time and the other 6 are zero to us

      After change it could be zero in "our" 3 space and embedded in dimension 5 6 7 + 1 of time so it it beyond our observation

      I hope this is not rubbish but I have a horrible feeling it is

      Michael Shields

      • Log in or register to post comments

      Anonymous

      24 September 2015

      Permalink

      I like that analogy you mentioned about looking into the video game, we see the pixels and know it is made up of numbers.

      • Log in or register to post comments
      You can listen to the podcast using the player above, and you can listen and subscribe to our podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and through most other podcast providers via podbean.

      Read more about...

      cosmology
      theoretical physics
      philosophy
      University of Cambridge logo

      Plus Magazine is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.
      Copyright © 1997 - 2025. University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.

      Terms