---
title: "Bekenstein bound · Library · Simulation Hypothesis"
url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/bekenstein-bound
description: "The Bekenstein bound is an upper limit on how much information a region of space can hold, given its energy."
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)"
---

## Physics & computation

# Bekenstein bound

Definition

The Bekenstein bound is an upper limit on how much information a region of space can hold, given its energy. It grows with the region’s radius times its energy.

On this site

It means a simulation can’t store more state than the universe that contains it. So each nested layer has to be smaller than the one above, and the regress can’t go on forever.

Role in the model

Lloyd’s bound limits how fast a given mass can compute. Bekenstein’s limits how much it can store. Together they limit the regress. A simulated universe can’t hold more state than the region of the outer universe that runs it. So each layer has to be smaller than the one around it, and the nesting can’t go on forever.

Related

[Lloyd’s bound](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/lloyd-bound)[Infinite regress](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/infinite-regress)

## The people behind the terms

14 short pages, one per thinker, each with its matching dial. See also the [reading list](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/reading).

[Plato’s cave](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/plato)[Zhuangzi’s butterfly](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/zhuangzi)[Vasubandhu’s dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/vasubandhu)[Shankara’s māyā](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/shankara)[al-Ghazali’s doubt](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ghazali)[Ibn Arabi’s imagination](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ibn-arabi)[Calderón’s life is a dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/calderon)[Descartes’ demon](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/descartes)[Berkeley’s perceiver](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/berkeley)[Borges’ circular ruins](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/borges)[Nozick’s experience machine](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/nozick)[Putnam’s brain in a vat](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/putnam)[Bostrom’s trilemma](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/bostrom)[Chalmers: virtual worlds are real](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/chalmers)