Scientists Say Reality Might Be an Illusion — And the Universe Could Be Holographic

Reality sometimes does not feel real at all, but have you ever thought that it could all just be an illusion? That the universe might just be a big hologram. Some theoretical physicists are suggesting that everything we see and experience, from space and time to gravity, is all just a projection from a lower-dimensional boundary.

This concept that we are about to discuss is not just a work of science fiction; rather, it arose naturally from studies of black holes, quantum gravity, and Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. This idea states that we live in a three-dimensional world, but only experience it in two dimensions is a product of a holographic illusion.

The Holographic Principle: A Universe from a Boundary

The holographic principle, first proposed by Gerard ’t Hooft and developed by Juan Maldacena, suggests that the information that describes our three-dimensional world could be encoded on its boundary surface, similar to how a hologram would work.

Let’s dive deeper into how a hologram could work, because that is exactly what they are proposing about how our universe functions. Holograms create a 3d illusion by recording light patterns, holding that information on a flat surface, and then reconstructing and projecting it.

In the same way, physicists believe that the information we experience daily from the very atom, every force, even time and space, is all stored in the boundary somewhere. Our universe might just be projecting that information to create the world we know today, a holographic illusion.

Read more: Scientific American

How Experiments Are Testing Reality’s Graininess

Compilation: Our Reality is an Illusion

If reality is just a hologram, then there might be some inconsistencies at its fundamental size, and scientists are trying to find them to prove this theory. In simple words, they are looking for glitches in the holographic projection using a device called Fermilab Holometer.

It is defined as a laser interferometer that detects tiny noises or jitters in space and time that could betray the 2D encoding. The holographic noises would be so small and subtle, but the high-power laser interferometers could potentially measure the fluctuations.

Basically, think of a computer’s pixels when watching a video or playing a game, sometimes there are noises or tiny dots that are missing because they were not transmitted properly due to poor connections. This device is looking for those tiny glitches, too, only this time, in the real world, checking if reality is a holographic illusion.

The way it works is very complicated and goes outside the topic of this article, but you can read more in these other sources about it if you are interested.

Read more: Wikipedia

Why Reality Could Be an Illusion—and Not Just Holographic

There are some thinkers who attribute the possibility of a holographic universe to our consciousness and evolution. Psychologist Donald Hoffman proposes that human brains may have developed a way to see what fits rather than what actually is for survival.

He suggested in his evolutionary game theory simulations that natural selection favored those perceptions that enhance humans’ chances at reproduction and survival, removing our ability to see the objective reality.

Read more: Popular Mechanics

What This Theory Means for Humans and Physics

If the universe we are living in, from the space and time, to the very smallest atoms, might be an illusion, then it implies that we are in a limited physical reality. Everything we see and feel might be a consequence of a projection from a far-away boundary holding all the information.

This theory is clearly not proven, but it gives a framework that could unify the problems of physics and modern science, such as in quantum gravity. It also begs the question whether our physical space is real in any sense or a projection. A good study to explore next that could be related to this fun theory is the double slit experiment by Thomas Young in 1801.

A Thin Sheet of Reality: The Universe as a Hologram | World Science Festival

Author's Final Thoughts

According to the holographic principle and theory, everything we experience is are product of the projection of encoded data in a boundary somewhere far in the universe, or on a lower-dimensional surface, similar to how a hologram device would function.

Whether reality is what it seems or not, if experiments like the holometer succeed, then we could finally know more about the real structure of this whole wide universe we are existing in, behind all the illusion.

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