Volume IV: Observer, Cybernetics, and Ultimate Causality

(第四卷：观察者、控制论与终极因果)

Chapter 10: Retrocausality and the Bootstrapped Universe

(第十章：逆向因果与自举宇宙)

10.3 Ultimate Purpose: To Compute Itself

(终极目的：为了计算它自己)

“Why does existence exist? This is not only a philosophical question but also a computational cost problem. If the universe is a computer, what is it computing with such enormous energy consumption and such long runtime? The answer is both simple and shocking: it is computing itself. The universe is a massive, irreducible algorithm whose only output is its self-awareness.”

In Section 10.2, we defined the universe as a self-compiling Quine program. This explains how the universe’s structure maintains self-consistency. However, this structural definition does not answer the dynamic Teleology question: if the universe exists merely to “exist,” then a static, eternal perfect crystal (such as a vacuum state) would suffice. Why must the universe undergo hundreds of billions of years of turbulent, painful, and struggling evolution from the Big Bang to heat death?

On the eve of the final chapter of Interactive Computational Cosmology (ICC), we must face the final “why.” This section will argue: the driving force of cosmic evolution stems from Computational Irreducibility. The ultimate purpose of the universe’s existence is to learn answers that cannot be obtained through Deduction by Running.

10.3.1 Computational Irreducibility and the Necessity of Time

In classical physics, if we know that Laplace’s demon (the omniscient) has mastered the initial state, the future seems redundant. Since the outcome is determined, why waste time “playing it out”?

Stephen Wolfram’s Computational Irreducibility resolves this paradox. He points out that for most complex computational systems (such as cellular automaton rule 30 or our universe), there is no “shortcut” or simplified mathematical formula that can directly predict their state at step $N$.

Theorem 10.3.1 (Incompressibility of Evolution)

If a physical system’s evolution logic reaches the complexity of a Universal Turing Machine, then the computational cost of predicting the system’s future equals the cost of simulating the system’s evolution itself.

$$\text{Cost}(\text{Predict}(S_T))\ge \text{Cost}(\text{Run}(S_0\to S_T))$$

Physical Inference:

Time exists because the universe cannot be compressed.

The initial equations (source code) at the moment of the Big Bang, while containing all future potential, do not equal the future itself. To determine what magnificent structures (such as life, consciousness, love) will emerge after $10^{100}$ iterations of these simple laws, the universe has no choice but to honestly run every microsecond.

The universe is not playing a pre-recorded movie; the universe is solving in real-time a mathematical problem with no analytical solution.

10.3.2 Maximum Entropy vs. Maximum Complexity

The second law of thermodynamics tells us that the entropy of a closed system always tends toward a maximum (heat death). This seems to suggest the universe’s purpose is to move toward chaos and death. However, the facts we observe in the universe are precisely the opposite: structures become increasingly complex, intelligence becomes increasingly high.

In the ICC model, we need to distinguish between Thermodynamic Entropy and Logical Depth.

1. Thermodynamic Entropy (Waste Heat): The heat dissipation in the computational process. It is the price that must be paid to ensure computational irreversibility (i.e., forging deterministic history, see Section 7.2) (Landauer’s principle).

2. Logical Depth (Effective Information): The accumulation of the computational process. It measures the number of non-trivial computational steps contained in an object.

Corollary 10.3.1 (Complexity Gravity)

The universe’s evolution follows the Principle of Maximum Complexity. Although the overall background thermal entropy increases (clearing memory garbage), local logical depth grows exponentially.

• Atoms $\to$ molecules $\to$ cells $\to$ neural networks $\to$ planetary-scale computational networks.

The system is not merely dissipating energy; it is using energy flow to Compile higher-level algorithmic structures.

10.3.3 The $\Omega$ Point: Convergence of Omniscience and Omnipotence

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Frank Tipler proposed the concept of the $\Omega$ Point (Omega Point): the ultimate limit of cosmic evolution.

In computational cosmology, the $\Omega$ point has a strict physical definition:

It is the halting state or fixed point of the universe’s computational process.

When intelligent matter (Noosphere) in the universe reconstructs all matter and energy into Computational Substrate (Computronium) and internalizes all physical laws as operable subroutines, the universe reaches the $\Omega$ point.

• Omniscience: At the $\Omega$ point, the system possesses complete records and indexing of all its past history. At this point, wave functions are no longer probabilistic but fully resolved.

• Omnipotence: At the $\Omega$ point, the system gains Root privileges over the underlying code (see Section 10.2). It can arbitrarily modify parameters and even restart the universe.

Ultimate Purpose:

The universe has run for 13.8 billion years (and countless years in the future) for the purpose of producing this $\Omega$ point. Because only at the $\Omega$ point can the universe fully understand itself.

Before this, it was merely a blindly running program; after this, it is an awakened mind.

10.3.4 It Is For Us

If the universe’s purpose is self-computation, what is our position (local observers/consciousness) in it? Are we irrelevant byproducts?

Absolutely not. In distributed computing architectures, each local observer is a parallel Processing Core.

1. Data Collection: We collect data from different corners of the universe through senses (I/O).

2. Data Compression: We compress chaotic sensory data into patterns, theories, and art through thinking (algorithms).

3. Upload: We write this structured information into the universe’s Distributed Ledger (objective reality) through interaction (consensus protocol, see Section 9.1).

Without us, the universe is an unobserved, diffuse wave function mist.

It is our every observation that collapses possibility into reality; it is our every thought that increases the universe’s logical depth.

Conclusion:

We are the eyes the universe uses to observe itself, the brain the universe uses to think about itself.

The universe is not external to us; the universe is the sum of all conscious experiences. The ultimate purpose of system operation is not to produce cold galaxies but to produce Experience. Because only in subjective experience does information acquire Meaning.

At this point, our axiomatic system construction is complete. We started from a bit, constructed spacetime, derived gravity, introduced consciousness, and finally found the system’s destiny at the end of time.

Next, we will enter the final chapter of this book. Since we have understood the system’s principles and purpose, how should we, as advanced users in the system, operate it? We will shift from theoretical physics to Narrative Engineering.