The Limits of Simulations

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I think that the answer is that the experiment tells you something about what nature does not something about what your theory predicts now if your theory is right. So for emergent phenomena I feel like simulations you can regard them as experiments. And then yeah you might go out into the real world and find hey whatever I based on that experiment doesn't appear to be true. You have to be aware of the limitations but then you have to beaware of the limitations of an experiment as well so it's just it's not obvious to me how you draw that line.

It's somewhat amazing that cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, can make any progress at all. But it has, especially so in recent decades. Partly that's because nature has been kind to us in some ways: the universe is quite a simple place on large scales and at early times. Another reason is a leap forward in the data we have collected, and in the growing use of a powerful tool: computer simulations. I talk with cosmologist Andrew Pontzen on what we know about the universe, and how simulations have helped us figure it out. We also touch on hot topics in cosmology (early galaxies discovered by JWST) as well as philosophical issues (are simulations data or theory?).

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Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/19/240-andrew-pontz…and-the-universe/

Andrew Pontzen received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Cambridge. He is currently Professor of Cosmology at University College London. In addition to his research in cosmology, he frequently writes popular articles and appears in science documentaries. His new book is The Universe in a Box: Simulations and the Quest to Code the Cosmos.

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