The world is a 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bit computer.
More seriously, the world is much more like an FPGA than a computer. An FPGA contains many logic circuits, all acting in parallel and not generally following a list of instructions as a computer does.
I came here to post about Wolframās āA New Kind Of Science,ā but in searching for a good BB link (I know youāve covered him in the past)ā¦ I found a cached page of this very BB article, not two hours old, that did include reference to Mr. Wolframās huge tome. Apparently it was removedā¦ Usually you have links to previous articles. 
If this world computer has a finite number of bits wouldnāt irrational numbers become rational at a certain resolution?
I donāt recall Planck mentioning anything about a resolution.
I blame Douglas Adams for this research.
No seriously, the universe is not a computer:
- The hypothesis does not really make useful predictions
- Every time we tried to see any form of ādiscreteā or ādigitalā physics, we found, that, in fact, the universe is analog and continuous.
So, no, we do not live in a computer, unless we postulate the computer is undetectable, which makes the theory completely unuseful.
I donāt understand why this keeps on popping up, even on relatively skeptical sites like this oneā¦
See above.
Every time we tried to see any form of ādiscreteā or ādigitalā physics, we found, that, in fact, the universe is analog and continuous.
can you back that up?
string theory is not infinitely scaleable for example (distance measurements invert once they reach the planck length), it could be that a discrete version could solve some of itās problems. quantum theory obviously operates on discrete units of energy as well, why not discrete units of space and time?
real-number based physics has hit a brick wall, general relativity canāt explain quantum effects, and quantum theory is a mix of continuoius and discrete methods, and is obviously incmoplete. thatās no guarantee that the real answer lies in a fully discrete theory, but the discovery of the planck constant certainly suggests itās something worth investigating. Iāve not heard much about Wolframās approach though, sounds interesting.
So, God is the root/superuser/admin(istrator). He needs to re(boot/set) it now. 
ā¦doing a bit more reading on the subject and it seems to that most discrete models break lorentz symetry, something which is forbidden due to experimental results. it seems certain discrete model proponents claim they have ways around this, but Iām not qualified to judge.
I say, Fock Lorentz symmetry!
no, no. you see weāre programmed to think the world is continuous. i have it on good auhority the actual resolution is around a meter. 
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