--- title: "Universe Lite · a universe that takes 5.8 × 10⁹¹ FLOPS · Simulation Hypothesis" url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/builds/lite description: "The observable universe at molecular resolution, with half of it left out." license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)" --- [Scenarios](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/builds)6/9 # Universe Lite · The observable universe at molecular resolution, with half of it left out. Open in the sandbox ▸ The whole observable universe, simplified down to molecules, with half of it left out and every nervous system counted. Reality, but with detail thrown away. Required computing power rough 5.8 × 10^91 FLOPS Never on one star’s power with ordinary logic, even at the thermodynamic floor. [The countdown ▸](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/countdown) More than a computer with the mass of the Earth could do at the physical limit. Computer sizetextbook a galaxy-mass ultimate computer The Milky Way as a single computer. At Lloyd’s bound this takes 0.89 Milky Ways of matter, all of it computing. Feasibility Beyond an Earth-mass computer More than a planet’s worth of matter could compute at the physical limit. Universe-computerstextbook 7.1 × 10^-13 One universe-computer is every kilogram in the observable universe computing at Lloyd’s bound. Power draw, Landauer floortextbook 4.3 × 10^44 Suns The thermodynamic minimum for flipping bits at room temperature. The best real hardware uses about five billion times more energy than that. 4.3 × 10^44 Suns of power at the Landauer floor, assuming perfect chips. The best real chips use about five billion times more energy than that. On every computer on Earthrough 1.8 × 10^63 years per second How long it takes, on a clock, to compute one second of simulation on all of humanity’s computers, \~10^21 FLOPS. 1.3 × 10^53 ages of the universe, on all of Earth’s computing, for every simulated second. World actually computedwild guess 0.001155% 1.3 × 10^-8% of the mass is watched by 2.0 × 10^36 observers. The observation dial sets how much of the remainder is computed at the full floor. ## Questions this scenario asks * What gets lost between atoms and molecules? * If mind is everywhere but thin, is it still mind? * Does leaving half of it out change what’s real? * Is choosing not to compute suffering a kindness, or a dodge? “Gave every nervous system an inner life. The minds barely change the total. The matter dominates: 5.8 × 10^91 FLOPS.” ## Report card Instance report EVERY NERVOUS SYSTEM COUNTED Settings Scale Observable universe Matter floor Molecule Lobby Multiplayer Inner lives 2.0 × 10^36 · functional Computed 0.001155% Time Linear, live from 1.4 × 10^10 yrs ago Computing needed 5.8 × 10^91 FLOPS Computer size a galaxy-mass ultimate computer Universe-computers 7.1 × 10^-13 Feasibility Beyond an Earth-mass computer Judged, not measured The author’s reading. None of these changes the computing total. Suffering Background hum Free will Dice Utilitarian leans for Deontological leans for Virtue ethics divided Existentialist divided “Gave every nervous system an inner life. The minds barely change the total. The matter dominates: 5.8 × 10^91 FLOPS.” Two of these are rough and three are wild guesses, and each is tagged that way. Change any one dial and you get a different universe. Matter computingrough 5.8 × 10^91 FLOPS 5.0 × 10^79 molecule-sized units across universe, each updated every 10 fs. Mind computingrough rides along free At the molecule floor, brains are already computed as matter. On their own they’d take 5.3 × 10^48. At this matter floor the brains are already computed as matter, so minds add nothing to the total. Inner liveswild guess 2.0 × 10^36 2.0 × 10^36 real minds. 8.8 × 10^37 organisms left as scenery. Operations so farrough 2.5 × 10^109 13.8 billion years on the clock, at 5.8 × 10^91 per second. History that is only storedrough 0% Computing begins 13.8 billion years ago. No humans are present at the start. [◂ Local Universe](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/builds/local)Open in the sandbox ▸ [Full Quantum ▸](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/builds/full-quantum)