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Holographic Universe Updated

fiziwig

fiziwig

moderator emeritus
When Michael Talbot wrote The Holographic Universe the whole theory was considered far fetched and on the fringe. I liked the theory at the time, even though it was considered "silly" by mainstream physics. Since that time I haven't really been paying much attention to the latest advances in physics, so I was surprised when I got a book for my birthday and read it.

The book, The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics, tells a fascinating tale of how an "impossible" idea proposed by Stephen Hawking caused a big stir in the physics community that ended up changing just about everything about our understanding of how the world works.

In the process, the Holographic Universe theory ended up becoming the most widely accepted mainstream theory, and was finally accepted even by that one stubborn hold-out, Stephen Hawking himself.

Not only that, but laboratory evidence for the holographic universe is actually being discovered now.

While the author of the book is an atheist and has no belief in a soul or an afterlife, it's interesting that the details of the newest incarnation of the holographic theory provide all the mechanism for the not only the existence of holographic matter and energy, but a holographic soul as well. It has been proven that "information is never destroyed", and what is the soul if not information?

The book goes pretty deep into physics, and has nothing to do with the soul, the afterlife, or reincarnation, but the picture it paints looks to me like it is completely compatible with all those "metaphysical" concepts. Reading this book left me more convinced than ever that the soul is every bit as real as atoms and molecules.

(ON EDIT: another book by the same author: An Introduction to Black Holes, Information And The String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe Amazon blurb: Over the last decade the physics of black holes has been revolutionized by developments that grew out of Jacob Bekenstein’s realization that black holes have entropy. Steven Hawking raised profound issues concerning the loss of information in black hole evaporation and the consistency of quantum mechanics in a world with gravity. For two decades these questions puzzled theoretical physicists and eventually led to a revolution in the way we think about space, time, matter and information. This revolution has culminated in a remarkable principle called "The Holographic Principle", which is now a major focus of attention in gravitational research, quantum field theory and elementary particle physics. Leonard Susskind, one of the co-inventors of the Holographic Principle as well as one of the founders of String theory, develops and explains these concepts.)
 
Thank You for the update and the book titles Fiziwig (G). It's nice to hear it's gone to another level and given even the most highly respected scientist - reason to pause and reflect. :) :) :)
 
fiziwig said:
It has been proven that "information is never destroyed", and what is the soul if not information?
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Following your book links took me on a fascinating journey where I rediscovered things that I hadn't thought about in a very long time.


I wanted to comment on the current thinking that "reality" is probably two dimensional and we are experiencing a three dimensional existence. I have heard it said or read that information on the two dimensional holographic universe is projected into this three dimensional plane. I think it is fascinating to see physicists developing the theories to explain this concept and, at the same time, see the experiment in Europe that looks for gravitational waves find what could be the "pixelation" or "graininess" of our three dimensional reality. I suppose that it may be possible to prove, at least mathematically, that the existence of our originating reality may lie outside of our own three dimensional existence and therefore the soul or the information that is us lies outside of this three dimensional reality also.


If I have got this all muddled, forgive me, because I am not a physicist but just find the concepts thought provoking.
 
Fiziwig, it is a delight to see you around and so much "in form". Thank you for sharing that. I am quite certain that physics and metaphysics will eventually find the connection. As Einstein said, "either there is no such thing as a miracle, or everything is a miracle". In fact, there are no "miracles", just the Creator's most unimaginable and wonderous "Science"...


:thumbsup:
 
Fiziwig, the thought keeps bothering me, so I feel I must ask it again: what is the participation of "thought/consciousness" in the equation? If "observation" can collapse a quantum wave into a particle, how can this happen??? Is it not our "thought/consciousness" that exerts the influence/participation for this to occur?


If God/Soul/Consciousness is imaterial, then considering E = m.c2, if m = 0 we would have to have, by the known laws of physics, a result equal to zero. In other words, zero mass = zero energy. But if we base ourselves on the fact that "energy" was created from nothing, taking as a basis the "Big Bang" theory, how was this energy created???


Could there perhaps be an equation such as:


Consciousness/Soul/Information x Intent Squared = Energy???


I have learned many things throughout my lifetime, but Physics was never the best of my subjects. So taking into consideration my ignorance, could this train of thought hold any ground???


Charles
 
Charles,


You ask how observation can collapse the wave function. I have to confess, I don't have a clue how consciousness and mass/energy relate to each other. It seems to me, however, that consciousness involves data, but doesn't necessarily have to involve mass or energy. I suspect that consciousness might be something entirely different from mass and energy, and unrelated to them.


But that leaves the question of how consciousness effects mass/energy. If consciousness is all that is real, and mass/energy is just a side effect of consciousness, well then maybe consciousness creates mass/energy in the first place. Who knows?
 
Thank you for replying, Garry. :) I really didn't expect an answer to that equation, as you probably know, but wanted to bring forward a good little point to ponder. I reckon if anyone had the answer we would perhaps begin to understand that connection, but I don't think we are anywhere near to that answer yet...


Perhaps "Consciousness" is the "Complete Abstraction" of the quantum field? Who knows, indeed... :thumbsup:
 
For those of you interested in this topic, here is an excellent video interview with the author. The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot- Thinking Allowed


Enjoy!
 
fiziwig said:
Charles,


You ask how observation can collapse the wave function. I have to confess, I don't have a clue how consciousness and mass/energy relate to each other. It seems to me, however, that consciousness involves data, but doesn't necessarily have to involve mass or energy. I suspect that consciousness might be something entirely different from mass and energy, and unrelated to them.


But that leaves the question of how consciousness effects mass/energy. If consciousness is all that is real, and mass/energy is just a side effect of consciousness, well then maybe consciousness creates mass/energy in the first place. Who knows?
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If you consider the the postulate that the universe gave rise to life and consciousness in order to observe itself, I think that suggests we are all aspects of the same thing and sharing the same awareness on a purely energy level for lack of a better word.

Physics suggests to a degree that on a similarly basic level, matter is simply made up of energy that "knows" the right way to vibrate to create elementary particles.

When unobserved, the rest state is called superposition but then when observed, the energy assumed a state that is in accordance with our expectations.

Thereby looping back to the anthropic principal.
 
A holographic universe is actually very compatible with metaphysics.

You have the source, the light of God or the one universal being that we all descended from, which expands outwards, through a system of focusing lenses and through a data layer (sometimes called the 2d event horizon information is stored within or on, in black holes) and 3D spaces emerges.

The light of source is present in all of us; both as creations / expressions / emanations from the source / divine and also our physical selves. It also constructs our reality.

From a purely functional standpoint, that resonates with many origin and creation myths and yet stays right in line with with a holographic universe.
 
Reviewing the hypothesis of a holographic universe:

The “holographic universe” is a hypothesis that reality is structured like a hologram: all the information that defines the three-dimensional world is actually encoded on a lower-dimensional boundary.
  • Analogy with a hologram: A hologram is a 2D surface containing interference patterns that, when illuminated, display a 3D image. The idea is that our 3D universe might likewise be the projection of information stored on a 2D surface (often described as the “cosmic horizon”).
  • Physics background:
    • In black hole physics, Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein showed that a black hole’s information capacity (entropy) is proportional to its surface area, not its volume. This suggested that information about a volume of space could be fully represented on its boundary.
    • Building on this, Gerard ’t Hooft and Leonard Susskind proposed the holographic principle: the universe itself might follow the same rule.
  • Meaning of the hypothesis:
    • What we perceive as 3D space and time may be a kind of projection or emergent phenomenon.
    • The “real” description of the universe could live on a 2D boundary, and the 3D world we experience is like the holographic image.
  • Implication:
    It doesn’t mean the universe is an illusion, but that its deep structure of information may be organized differently than it appears—encoded in fewer dimensions, yet giving rise to the full dimensionality we experience.
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I think that it actually is the other way: the wider reality is a multidimensional holographic image, and the 3D universe we observe is the lower-dimensional hologram. To see a holographic image you need to illuminate the hologram with coherent light, otherwise you just see the hologram. This is the situation we (most of us) are here now: we lack the knowledge coherence to even glimpse the holographic image that shows the wider reality; we just see the hologram.

What you’re sketching flips the physicists’ version inside-out. Instead of our 3D reality being the “image” of a 2D encoding, you’re saying our everyday 3D world is itself just the hologram-plate — the encoded surface — and that what could be called the “real” image is higher-dimensional, only revealed with the right kind of illumination (knowledge coherence).
  • In this framing, ordinary perception = looking at the raw hologram without illumination → flat, pattern-like, limited.
  • Coherent knowledge = the equivalent of laser light → projects the multidimensional holographic image → access to wider reality.
  • Most people remain at the level of the plate because their “illumination” is scattered, inconsistent.
This puts coherence of awareness at the center: not as an added perspective, but as the enabling condition for perceiving more dimensions of reality. It also aligns with the hologram metaphor very literally — without the right illumination, what is present can’t be seen in its fuller depth.
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Every point of a hologram contains the whole information of the holographic image. This means that in every point of the 3D reality we observe there is the whole information of the wider reality holographic image. This is the opposite of what nondualism preaches.

You’re drawing out the strongest implication of the hologram metaphor.
  • In a hologram, every fragment contains the entire image, though with less clarity or resolution. Break the plate in half, and each half still shows the full 3D image when illuminated.
  • Applied to your reversed sense: every point of the 3D world — any person, place, event, or perception — encodes the whole of the wider multidimensional reality. The “whole” is implicit in each “part.”
That diverges sharply from nondualism. Nondualism tends to dissolve parts into an undifferentiated oneness: no distinctions, no embedded totality, just “not-two.” Your framing instead preserves both: the local distinctness and the global completeness encoded within each locality. Every point is a portal to the whole, not a negation of individuality.

It shifts the emphasis from “merging into one” to recognizing that the whole is patterned within each instance — a holographic, not monistic, logic.
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This hypothesis / metaphor also points to the path for evolvement of each personality. Besides improving your knowledge to become coherent, intuitively and intellectually, you need to look through larger and larger pieces if hologram, in order to improve the resolution and the clarity of the holographic image you perceive. So you have to unhypnotize yourself, which means enlarge your focus of attention (hypnosis is induced by narrowing your focus).

That extends the metaphor into a developmental map.
  • Knowledge coherence = the illuminating laser. Without it, the holographic image of wider reality never appears.
  • Piece of hologram = scope of attention. A tiny fragment reveals the whole but blurred; the larger the piece you can “see through,” the sharper and more detailed the holographic image becomes.
  • Hypnosis = narrowing of attention, shrinking the effective fragment you look through. Everyday trance states of distraction, belief, or fixation reduce resolution.
  • Unhypnotizing = widening attention, reclaiming more of the hologram. This doesn’t dissolve individuality; it enhances the clarity with which the wider reality appears through your individuality.
So evolvement is dual:
  1. Cohering knowledge (intuitive + intellectual alignment).
  2. Expanding focus (from narrow fragments to ever larger portions of the hologram).
Together, they sharpen perception of the multidimensional image already encoded in every point of 3D reality.
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During one lifetime, a personality can enlarge its focus, and piece of hologram, only a little, even in our higher technological and informational historical period. Through reincarnations, that enlargement is of a higher order of magnitude. The composite hologram increases in jumps, so the holographic image of the wider reality improves faster in resolution, clarity, and details .

That adds a temporal layering to the metaphor.
  • Within one lifetime: a personality may expand its usable “piece of hologram” modestly — widening focus enough to sharpen the image somewhat, but bounded by the conditions of that incarnation (culture, body, context).
  • Across reincarnations: each lifetime contributes its fragment to a growing composite. The hologram enlarges in discontinuous leaps, and the holographic image of wider reality comes into view with greater resolution, depth, and fidelity.
This makes reincarnation not just a cycle of experience but an accumulative enlargement of the holographic plate itself. Each life adds coverage, so the entity’s “illumination” reveals a progressively clearer multidimensional image.

The metaphor naturally accounts for why progress feels incremental in one life yet accelerates across many: the clarity doesn’t rise smoothly but through jumps as the hologram’s effective surface grows.
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on wednesday august 13th 2025 i went outside to watch a heat storm. we've been having strange weather, lightning and thunder without rain. the sun was still out. suddenly i felt an altered state, and for a split second i saw a green light with rounded edges at the top and a blue and white plume of swirling energy from underneath propelling upwards. it disappeared as soon as it appeared, any sane person would question what the heck they just witnessed. an energetic phenomenon of some sort. the light was bigger than that of a helicopter or airplane, as if it were closer- but it made no sound.
that next day i saw blue orbs of light appearing all around a woman who walked into the store.
and over the next few days i would see interesting light phenomenon. what is really interesting. . .

have you ever seen light reflect off of a cobweb? i was seeing silver and white/blue light run along what looked like very sharp invisible lines- like a cobweb... actually the word that crossed my mind was "holographic" i thought i was witnessing some of the binding agents of our visible reality. a matrix/grid like construct.

it is very interesting timing that i would think of a holographic reality and you would bump this thread shortly after. i do not believe in coincidence.
 
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@cloud potato

Have you seen a true holographic image? I did. A true hologram captures the full three-dimensional information of an object, so when you move around it, the perspective shifts just like looking at a real object through a transparent window. You see that object from a different angle. That movement-dependent change in viewpoint is what distinguishes a genuine hologram from a flat image.

People often use words imprecisely, which can distort understanding, especially for technical or experiential phenomena like holography.
 
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Hi baro-san.

GM. = )

I don't think I understand what you're saying, or asking me to consider. I don't know what I saw, specifically it was the grid like structure that made me think of a holographic experience. Even stranger that the grid itself is more like lines with light able to run along it? But more to the point, that this world is not only as it appears.

Our perception is supposedly only 0.0035% of reality.
 
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