The universe isn't a hologram, but it looks that way... here's why.

I read a headline on the Nature site stating “Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram.” I was surprised this was news or that they had taken a time to create a computer model to discern this bit of information. A hologram, according to Wikipedia, is a representation of an image in space (not outer space) made from an apparently random structure or representation of either varying intensity, density, or profile. According to the article:

“A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.”

Maybe I’m the only one who sees the universe this way, but I was thinking, in a more modern parlance, “duh.” Then they go on to talk about Quantum Physics and a 10-Dimensional Theory of Gravity and how the universe will be hopefully more easily explained in the future in terms of Quantum Theory. Okay, so there we have a problem.

Everything we see from Earth and near space is indeed a projection on whatever surface we’re using to view it (technically)… either it’s the lenses in our eyes, a camera lens, or the output of a computer model based on data that we’re gleaned from observation. No two eyes are alike, no two people are alike, and while we may see things similarly we do not see the exact same things.

Heavenly bodies beyond our solar system as we see them in the sky are but a historical representation of something that once was in time. The distance of the stars, each multiple light years away means that the light we see varies in age (it takes a really long time to get here). It takes longer for light from a star much further away to reach us. Any calculation in the movement of these stars has to be based on fallible things such as time and the amount of light and waves being measured, because there is not enough historical data for us to accurately predict how far away an object outside our solar system really is. We as a people with our present intellects have not existed long enough to gather enough information about the movement of all of the stars using the latest technology. We still get excited about landing remote controlled vehicles successfully in our own solar system... billions of dollars have been spent on this very act.

Additionally because objects can vary in size and because we have no way of discerning the size accurately in three dimensions here on Earth from our vantage point, parallax is a major issue and prevents us from actually appropriately gauging distance. We would have to map every star and object in the sky at all times from more than one vantage point. Add in assumptions for constants such as the speed of light in a vacuum (unbent by gravity), and because we can not measure all of the factors acting on the minute amounts of light that make it to our instruments we can make no solid theories as to anything remotely substantial, only calculations of the subset of data required to properly model our perceptions which contain very small amounts of data in the grand scheme of things. We can theorize about what atoms exist on other planets in our solar system but we still don't know.

Furthermore, this is all unprovable (in terms of their scientific research) because we will not exist long enough to determine whether the experiments are true, therefore we should stop wasting efforts on any sort of scientific rational relating to Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Theory and focus on making life of today and tomorrow better for the people who exist now. There are so many more things that matter in life. What's next, interstellar space travel? Leave Sci-fi as a hobby. Don't make the rest of society pay for actual real science fiction through failed experimentation. We are not in The Matrix, we are not in a simulation, don't get your hopes up. Life will be just as cruel tomorrow.