Physicists are seriously discussing the possibility that our entire universe could be a hologram. This would mean a distant two-dimensional surface holds all the data required to fully describe our world in three dimensions. If this was assumed to be true then the laws of physics would make much more sense, such as the nature of black hole and the reconciling of gravity and quantum mechanics. Learn more about the idea of our entire universe being a hologram below.
In 1998, Maldacena demonstrated that a hypothetical universe could be a hologram. His particular hypothetical universe was in what’s called anti-de Sitter space (which, to simplify things, has a curved shape over huge distances, as opposed to our universe, which is believed to be flat):
Anti-de Sitter space (left) curves in on itself. Our universe (right) is believed to be flat. (The Physics Mill)
What’s more, by viewing this universe in two dimensions, he found a way to make the increasingly popular idea of string theory — a broad framework in which the basic building blocks of the universe are one-dimensional strings, rather than particles — jibe neatly with the well-established laws of particle physics.
And even more importantly, by doing so, he united two hugely important, disparate concepts in physics under one theoretical framework. “The holographic principle connected the theory of gravity to theories of particle physics,” Maldacena says.
Combining these two fundamental ideas into a single coherent theory (often called quantum gravity) remains one of the holy grails of physics. So the holographic principle making it possible in this hypothetical universe was a big deal.
Of course, all of this is still quite different from saying that our actual universe — not this weird hypothetical one — is a hologram.
Does this explain why no one has found Bigfoot, could Bigfoot be a Hologram? Ron Morehead has been investigating the Bigfoot phenomena for over 4 decades and has come to believe the answers may lay in the further understanding of Quantum Physics.
