 I want to tell you about the universe, what it is, how it came to be, what its building blocks are. I want to tell you how the future creates the past, which then creates the future. But first, I want to tell you about crystals. You might be surprised to know that a crystal isn't an expensive piece of glass or a chandelier in some fancy dining room. The word crystal simply means a pattern that is periodic. Look at this checkerboard pattern. See how it continues to spread out infinitely in each direction? That means it's a periodic pattern. So that's a two-dimensional crystal. This is another two-dimensional crystal. And this is another. You can also have three-dimensional crystals. By the way, this 3D glass is called crystal because its atoms are actually arranged in a crystalline pattern. So see how I'm projecting this three-dimensional crystal to a two-dimensional image on the sand? See how the 2D projection looks distorted because of the angle of the projection? That 2D image also has a pattern. But it isn't periodic. So it's not a crystal. But there's a deep connection between the 2D object on the sand and the 3D mother crystal. This distorted 2D pattern is called a quasi-crystal. A quasi-crystal in a certain dimension, in this case 2D, is a projection of a crystal in a higher dimension, in this case 3D. A group of physicists in Los Angeles is working on a new physics theory where a particular 8D crystal, yep, that's right, an eight-dimensional crystal is projected to 4D at a very particular angle which forms a 4D quasi-crystal. And from this 4D quasi-crystal, they derive a 3D quasi-crystal, which they believe is the fundamental substructure of all of reality. This 3D quasi-crystal has a fundamental building block, a tetrahedron, which is a three-dimensional equilateral triangle. The size of each edge on this shape is the smallest possible length that can exist. This is called the plank length. It's 10 to the 35 times smaller than a meter. So you know how your TV screen is broken down into building blocks called pixels? A pixel is the smallest possible indivisible unit of the 2D screen. So think of reality as your TV screen, but in 3D. And think of the tetrahedron as a 3D pixel, the smallest possible indivisible unit of reality. The tetrahedra in the quasi-crystal, combined with other tetrahedra, using complex mathematical rules, to fill up all of the space in the universe. Each tetrahedron only has a few specific states in which it can exist at any given moment. Because of the rules of how these pixels connect to each other, if one tetrahedron is in a certain state, this dictates the states of many other tetrahedra throughout all of space. But here's the weird thing. If a certain tetrahedron can be in any one of just a few possible states in a given moment, who or what chooses the state it should be in at any given moment? Well, for such a choice to be made, we need to scientifically, mathematically, and logically bring in a new element into physics. And that element is consciousness. If you're not a scientist, you might be surprised to learn that nobody actually knows the exact value of the speed of light. We have a close approximation, but not the exact value. The closest we can get to measuring it has to do with the precision of our machines. But no matter how precise our machines get, we will never be able to measure the exact speed of light without a theory that tells us what it is and why it is. And none of the current physics theories do that. Oh look, Professor Einstein, you look so cute. So I look pretty here? Yes, yes. No, wait, that's my bedside. What if I go... Yes, that's it. Good. What if I stick up my tongue like this? Bang! They're good? Uh-oh. Our best physics theories, Einstein's theory of relativity, and quantum mechanics, both use the speed of light as a starting point. In other words, they use an inexact measurement of the speed of light without explaining why it is what it is or why the universe even has a speed limit in the first place. We need a new theory. And such a theory is what the physicists and mathematicians of quantum gravity research in Los Angeles are working on. They'd call it emergence theory. And it will, really for the first time ever, provide an explanation for the speed of light and the other constants, such as Planck's constant and the fine structure constant. Basically what is needed is a theory of everything, a theory that explains the very fundamental aspects of reality. String theory, which once held a lot of promise for possibly being a successful theory of everything, has not made any successful predictions. In regard to the predictions, the theory itself isn't actually a theory of everything, it's just not, because it can't explain the speed of light or the other constants. Quantum mechanics and general relativity, on the other hand, do make good predictions, but they don't explain the fundamental constants either. Professor Einstein, why does the speed of light have the exact value that it does? Well, to put it plainly, uh, uh, security! So what clues does nature offer us for what a theory of everything should look like? We've identified seven. Information, causality loops, non-determinism, consciousness, pixelation, E8 crystal, and the golden ratio. A growing number of physicists are saying reality is made of information. Does that even mean? Well, information is meaning in the form of symbolism. A language or code provide this kind of information-conveined symbolism. A very different type of symbol is one that represents itself. Geometric symbols can do that. A cube can represent love, if we say it does. Or it can represent, really, with minimal subjectivity itself. Could there be a language or code made out of geometry? What type of information would such a language express? Quantum physics theory and classical physics indicate that reality is made of information, and there is no evidence that reality is made of anything other than information. Many physicists agree with this, and many don't. But those that don't agree that reality is made of information have no explanation for what reality is, if it's not information. Gentlemen? Reality is made of information. Nope. Yes, it is made of information. No. Okay, so what is it made of if not information? Energy. Energy is information. That's stupid. Energy is the potential for a particle to change its position. Potential is information. Energy is information. Nope. It's information. Then what is it? Not information. Then what is it? Not information. A geometric language in the form of geometric symbolism, the type of symbols that represent themselves, might explain how a geometric reality can be made of pure information. Information implies meaning. But what is meaning? Meaning is a comparison. That's what we do. But we do it so fast, we don't realize we're doing it. We look at something, and we match it to something from our database. We say, that is a crosswalk. That is a building, not a crosswalk. That is a window, not a building. So meaning is the perception of something relative to something else. So therefore, meaning is subjective and requires choice. Can we get some dramatic music here? Because meaning is subjective, for it to even exist, it needs to be perceived or measured by some form of consciousness. Einstein showed how the past and the future exist simultaneously in one geometric object. So all time exists all the time. Let me say that again. All time exists all the time. I know that sounds kind of weird and unintuitive, but we have to kind of suspend our common sense and accept that mathematically, and according to the best physics formulas we have, that actually makes sense. So let's visualize the geometric object that Einstein spoke about as a block. Remember the tetrahedra? The building block pixels of reality I told you about? Now imagine the entire universe, everything, everywhere in one frozen moment in time. Like a single frame in a movie. In this one frame, all of reality everywhere appears frozen in this one position. Let me give you an analogy. In a movie shot on 35 millimeter film, there are 24 frames a second. There is no actual movement in a movie, there is just a sequence of frozen frames. Now remember how I told you about the plank length of space, which is the smallest length possible? Well, there is also a plank length of time, and it is much shorter than 24 frames a second. In fact, it's 10 to the 44 times shorter than a second. Okay, so back to our frozen frame of reality. The entire universe in one frozen moment, one frame. But instead of a frame in a movie, it's a frame in all of reality. Now imagine the next frame. Each frame is different from the previous one, just like in a movie. See how all frames exist in Einstein's space time all at once? Okay, now here's where things get really, really weird. We assume that the past influences the future. That's how we appear to experience reality. But when you look at this block, why would one side be the past and one side be the future? Why go left to right and not right to left? Why can't the future influence the past? Take away the name's past and future if that helps you think of this concept. So what if the past influences the future and the future influences the past in an endless feedback loop? So then the question is, which part of the past is influencing which part of the future and vice versa? And the answer is, all time is affecting all time, all the time. I really need a drink. Is this even possible? Can me 20 years from now influence me now? Just as I influence her? So can me five minutes from now influence me 10 minutes ago? Just as me 10 minutes ago influences me as a baby. Just as me as a baby influences me on my deathbed. This is too weird to even grasp. But everything we know says this is the way it is. Am I stoned? Okay. So if every moment is co-creating every other moment both forward and backward in time, then reality would be this massive neural network spanning space and time. This type of network would have one even way stranger quality than anything we've talked about so far. It would be its own creator. But the fact that all time exists all the time does not mean that the future is written in stone and were some kind of programmed animation or something. That's what they used to believe though. Years ago it was popular to believe in the somewhat bummer idea of reality being a deterministic program playing itself out. Why does scattered bioelectrons bounce off electrons? The famous double slit experiment ruled out determinism. Look it up if you've never heard of it. It's wild and is one of the cornerstones of modern physics. But for now, take my word for it. It ruled out determinism and ushered in a new era of non-determinism or basically free will. So, how does free will work? One of the most surprising discoveries of quantum physics is that reality only exists when it is observed. But literally, particles do not exist until they are observed. Famous physicist John Wheeler, he's the guy who came up with the term black hole, says that reality is made of information which is created by observation. The observation must be made, he says, by something conscious. And Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczuk said that quantum theory is contentious and obscure and that it will remain that way until someone constructs within the formalism of quantum mechanics an observer. A model entity whose states correspond to a recognizable caricature of conscious awareness. An entity, an observer. So, Frank Wilczuk is basically talking about an entity, not necessarily a human being or an animal, that is capable of generating information by observing and measuring. But what would that conscious entity be? Well, we definitely know the consciousness exists in the universe. I mean, at least in us humans, right? I mean, I'm conscious, you're conscious, he's conscious, I think. I am conscious. Consciousness relates deeply to physics in ways not yet fully understood. In fact, consciousness is kind of like one of the least understood things in all of science. Nobody knows exactly what it is. Weird, right? So if reality is pure information, if everything, energy, matter, thought, if it's all information, then it becomes clear that reality deeply ties into consciousness in some way. As if the fundamental stuff of reality is somehow consciousness. Did consciousness and information somehow emerge in a causality feedback loop? German physicist Werner Heisenberg developed the first equations of quantum mechanics using a type of math called matrix theory. He deduced that space and time were pixelated into indivisible, three-dimensional, plank-length units, just like the two-dimensional pixels on your computer screen. It's good to be made of pixels. The mathematics indicated this. Mathematics. I love mathematics. Your pizza, professor. And pizza. Oh, I love pizza. Especially pixelated pizza. And interestingly, there was no solid experimental evidence for smooth. In other words, not pixelated, space-time. Pizza. Not pixelated. Not pixelated. Yes, you are morons. Your mother is pixelated. Space is smooth. There is no evidence of that. And the mathematics show it is pixelated, so it must be pixelated. Well, that's interesting. Bullshit. It must be pixelated. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. On the other hand, most scientists agree that a length can be no shorter than the plank lengths, which suggests reality is pixelated. There is no length shorter than the plank length. That means reality is pixelated. I'm not pixelated, but... Good. You're kind of being a little like one of those people who deny evolution because they can't enter the fact they're ancestors for monkeys. Are you a monkey? Are you a little monkey? We believe that until a quantum gravity theory of pixelated space-time is discovered, the issue will remain confusing for everyone. What type of geometric code would describe a pixelated reality? Eighty years of smashing particles together in particle accelerators, such as the famous Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, have given us a strange clue that all the fundamental particles and forces convert into one another, like they literally transform from one to the other according to a process called gauge symmetry transformation. And all of these conversions correspond to a shape, and not just any shape, an eight-dimensional shape. Now, this shape forms a crystal. Now, remember, crystals are periodic patterns of a certain shape, like that checkerboard is a 2D crystal made up of squares. So this crystal is of a particular eight-dimensional shape, and this crystal is known as the E8 lattice. To generate that 3D quasi-crystal, the substructure at the pixelated fabric of reality, we project this 8D crystal to 4D. And then we convert that to 3D. Now, just like the basic cell shape of the 3D cubic lattice is the cube, the cell shape of the E8 lattice is an 8D shape with 240 vertices. We call it the gosset polytope. When the gosset polytope is projected to 4D, it becomes two identical shapes of different sizes. The ratio of their sizes is a unique number, 0.618, also known as the golden ratio. The golden ratio may be the fundamental constant of nature. It is a ratio that is fundamental to circumscribed equilateral triangles, and it's weirdly ubiquitous in the universe, appearing everywhere from the quantum to celestial scales. Ever so interestingly, it appears in black holes. Let's get serious for a second. Here are three quick facts for you science heads. The golden ratio is the precise point where a black hole's modified specific heat changes from positive to negative. And it is part of the equation for the lower bound on black hole entropy. The golden ratio even relates the loop-quantum gravity parameter to black hole entropy. Why does this support the claim that the golden ratio is the fundamental constant of nature? Because a theory of everything must unite general relativity with quantum mechanics. And a black hole is where these two theories converge at their limits. Okay, so bear with me through some really weird math right now, and I'll reward you with some amazing footage of John Malkovich getting a pie in the face. There's a type of mathematics called matrix mathematics. No, not that type of matrix. Matrix math is the type of math that quantum physics uses in its formulas. Without getting too technical, this is an example of a matrix. A matrix is just a group of numbers that are arranged in columns and rows. And there's a certain amount of combinations for these numbers inside the matrix. Like if a matrix has four numbers inside it, there are 24 different possible combinations for those four numbers. Quantum mechanics uses matrices that are binary, so they only contain various combinations of two numbers. Each of these combinations of numbers has a value. It's called an Egan value. Some Egan values are called trivial. These are values like 1, 2, and 0. And some are called non-trivial. And those are all sorts of more complex-looking numbers. So, here's the interesting part. What's that interesting part? Oh, yes, here. The highest probability non-trivial Egan values that show up in binary matrices are, we're ready for this, the golden ratio and minus 1 over the golden ratio. So, we now see a deep link between black holes and quantum mechanics, because the golden ratio appears deeply in both black hole physics and in quantum mechanics. Okay. Good job bearing with me. Here's your reward. John Malkovich, getting a pie in the face. No, I... I'm not John Malkovich. Pie! The golden ratio appears to startling accuracies in many other ways throughout the universe and scales both large and small. It is so prevalent that its existence simply cannot be looked at as coincidental. In the past, the appearance of this ratio has usually been ignored by scientists because they had no way to explain it. So, interest in it was considered the stuff of amateur scientists. But now, for the first time, a rigorous quantum gravity theory is being developed, which predicts the golden ratio's existence, literally, everywhere. So, what would a theory of everything look like that answers these seven clues we just presented? Information, causality loops, non-determinism, consciousness, pixelation, E8 crystal, and the golden ratio. So, we think reality is a mosaic-like code or language at the smallest scale of reality possible, which is called the Planck length. Particle accelerator data tells us that all particles and forces relate to one another according to a higher-dimensional crystal called the E8 lattice. But reality appears to be 3D. So, we project a slice of this E8 crystal down to 3D, which produces a quasi-crystal code or language. And that allows these geometric symbols to build up to the ordinary world of particles and forces that we see around us. Now, this geometric language has rules, but it also has syntactical freedom, like any language. And that requires some notion of a chooser to choose the free steps in the language. Now, the notion of randomness doesn't work so well when it comes to codes, because meaning starts to break down. Besides, there's no decent experimental evidence for randomness in nature in the first place. A universal collective consciousness is one answer, but that sounds new age and religious. Nowadays, a good number of physicists discuss the idea that our whole universe is actually a code-based simulation in some fantastically powerful quantum computer in another universe. Now, if true, then by the same logic, that other universe, where the computer running the simulation of our universe is, would also supposedly be a simulation in another universe. So the idea is a little shaky, but it's being discussed seriously by a lot of credible people. But it turns out that a universal collective-like consciousness of some sort may be physically inevitable. Now, we don't need to anthropomorphize this idea or make it religious or spiritual. To follow why, let us start with the idea of the collective behavior of cells in your body, each a single-celled microbe living its life. A long time ago, only this sort of cellular life form existed here on Earth. These little guys were not too smart, but they did choose what direction to swim and could chase nutrients, reproduce, and run from dangerous things. They made choices with their very simple systems of environmental awareness and desire to survive. Then they self-organized into colonies that were smarter as a group and had more environmental awareness than the individuals. Eventually, animals, such as humans, emerged. Sophisticated forms of awareness and consciousness now float on an ocean of 37 trillion living cells self-organized as a human being. It is specifically the laws of physics that caused electrons and quarks to self-organize into 81 stable atoms, and from there into human consciousness. And physics places no upper limit on the amount of energy and matter that can self-organize into conscious systems. Physics allows the possibility of all the energy in the universe to eventually convert into a single conscious system that is itself a network of other conscious systems, a massive technologically based collective consciousness. Given enough time, anything that can happen will eventually happen. By this axiom, this system of universal consciousness has already emerged somewhere in the frames of space-time ahead of us. Because it is possible, it is inevitable. In fact, according to the evidence of retro causality time loops, that inevitable future is co-creating us right now. Just as we are co-creating it. When humanity discovers the theory of everything, it will usher in a new age of prosperity. For example, clean, cheap energy leading to the eventual elimination of poverty. 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