It turns out that the phenomenon of gravity itself may be a major giveaway that humanity is living in a vast computer simulation, according to one of the leading researchers studying the idea that reality is merely an artificially-generated projection, in that this ubiquitous attraction may be an intended function of the universal computer to make its operation more efficient.

Dr. Melvin Vopson, an Associate Professor in Physics with the University of Portsmouth, has long been an advocate of the idea that the universe that we experience is a computer simulation—indeed, he published a paper in 2023 titled “Do we live in a computer simulation like in The Matrix? My proposed new law of physics backs up the idea”. But his new theory posits that the very nature of spacetime itself may offer evidence that the universe is an artificial simulation, in that gravity appears to provide a function similar to the data processing and storage efficiencies that are programmed into modern computers.

In an earlier paper, Vopson put forward his idea of the “second law of information dynamics”, where the data in information systems, such as “digital data storage” or even a “biological RNA genome”, follow the same rules as the second law of thermodynamics,  “which states that the entropy of any system remains constant or increases over time”.

His new paper, titled “Is gravity evidence of a computational universe?”, builds on that premise, positing that gravity appears to be a mechanism that, by pulling matter and energy to singular points in space, appears to be minimizing the effect of entropy, similar to how a computer is designed to defragment and compress the data in its memory.

“This is another example of data compression and computational optimization in our universe, which supports the possibility of a simulated or computational universe,” Vopson stated in his paper.

“My findings in this study fit with the thought that the universe might work like a giant computer, or our reality is a simulated construct,” Vopson said in a statement. “Just like computers try to save space and run more efficiently, the universe might be doing the same.”

The idea is that quantum information that that is stored in what is called an “elementary cell”—the smallest possible volume of space in quantum mechanics—defines the position of a given amount of matter within the broader simulated universe; this is analogous to “voxels” in computer-generated imagery, pixels that occupy a given volume within a virtual space, similar to how an ordinary pixel will have its own place within the area that comprises your computer screen.

“The process is identical to how a digital computer game, virtual reality application, or other advanced simulation would be designed,” Vopson pointed out. But with the strangeness of quantum mechanics, each of these elementary cells can hold more than one particle, much like when a computer compresses a data file so that it takes up less space than normal.

“Put simply, it is far more computationally effective to track and compute the location and momentum of a single object in space, than numerous objects,” Vopson explained. “Therefore, it appears that the gravitational attraction is just another optimizing mechanism in a computational process that has the role to compress information.”

Building on this analogy, black holes could be thought of as the ultimate data centers, boasting the universe’s most efficient compression algorithm. In an earlier paper, Vopson also put forward the idea that dark matter itself might be composed of information, and in turn be a distinct fifth state of matter that exerts its own gravitational pull—or more appropriately, another form of data efficiency lurking just behind the simulation.

“It doesn’t contradict quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics or classical mechanics,” he said of his dark matter theory. “All it does is complement physics with something new and incredibly exciting.”