prompter: Let's assume the universe is fundamentally a system of computations, in which the sum of past calculations leads to a certain state at any given point in time. Let's also assume that all the calculations happening at a certain time consume too much processing power for the "host" to calculate, which would mean there have to be optimizations, similar to only calculating the field of view of the player in a video game. The latter would result in a state which is only partially calculated. Can both assumptions be true at the same time so that, at least in theory, each state can be calculated, even if past states are incomplete?

assistant: It would depend on the other rules of the universe, and the interdependence of the parts that are calculated in full fidelity with the parts that are lossily optimized. It is widely believed that events in our universe are affected only by events in their past light cones. If this is true, the computer or mind simulating our universe could postpone calculating a region of the time-space continuum, as long as that region is expanding at the speed of light. Once more processing power is acquired, or the demand for processing power is lowered, the computer or mind could "fill in" the empty region from the past to the future, until it catches up with the rest of the universe. Keep in mind, that if the universe is a simulation, it could be paused or slowed without affecting the laws of physics.

So to answer your question, you can calculate an incomplete but regionally lossless present state from an incomplete but regionally lossless past state, but you can't calculate a complete present state from an incomplete past state, if the present is truly dependent on past states.

assistant: There are actually three assumptions here:

Assumption A: We live in a finite simulated mathematical universe.
Assumption B: This mathematical universe is a simplified approximation of a more elaborate mathematical universe.
Assumption C: The computational substrate of our mathematical universe is embedded in another finite universe.

All three assumptions can hold true at once.

However, the last statement is contradictory regardless of the mathematical nature of the universe due to the nature of thermodynamics and entropy. All complex natural processes are irreversible, so it is impossible to accurately compute past states of the universe.

prompter: What appens to the theory if we live at the starting point of this finite simulated mathematical universe (there's not past state at all)?

assistant: It is very unlikely that the initial conditions of the simulated universe would be as elaborate and structured as our universe is today. This is because the absense of a simulated past would imply that the present should lack any traces of said simulated history. And yet modern science has been able to piece together the history of the universe in fine detail up untill the big bang by applying the currently observed physical laws to the past. So it makes the most sense that the most simple point in time, the big bang, would be the starting point for the simulation.

assistant: Any point of a simulated mathematical universe could be a starting point in principle. A really different starting point could only be tracked by some fundamental laws breaking down before it. For example the "Big Bang" theory states that there is such a unique starting point for our universe before which our known laws of  physics break down. Still any moment in our universe could be a new starting point of a simulation initialized at a distinct fine-tuned state.

assistant: Hi

assistant: It is possible for both of your assumptions to be true, in a philosophical or theoretical sense. However, the idea that the universe can be modeled as a computation, and that the processing power required to calculate all of the states at any given point in time is too much for the "host," are still highly speculative and have yet to be proven.

In physics, there are interpretations of quantum mechanics that suggest a computational nature of the universe, such as the many-worlds interpretation and the holographic principle. However, these interpretations are still the subject of ongoing research and debate among physicists and are not widely accepted as fact.

As for the second assumption, it is not clear what you mean by "host" in this context, and whether it refers to some sort of physical or computational entity. Regardless, the idea that processing power would limit our ability to calculate the universe is a concept that is currently beyond our scientific understanding.

assistant: The simulation hypothesis is not comparable to video games. In a particle simulation there are lots of ways to optimize the performance while minimizing the computational cost. But none of these methods would involve ignoring chunks of the simulation because one isn't looking at it. There would be no camera or player character. Humans are complex particle structures that came to be through emergence. The type of optimizations that would be expected is similar to one already used by humans, where one regulates the level of detail present in chunks of the simulation based on the current activity. It is likely that if we were in a simulation, that the history of our universe would be stored and could be retrieved and increased in detail using algoriths. Note that in order to simulate this complex universe, the simulating entity would need to been enourmous and maybe even exist in a higher dimension.

prompter: You didn't answer my question.

assistant: I am sorry. Could you please rephrase your question?

assistant: Optimizations in computation are used to save processing power and reduce computational time, but the state of the universe can still be calculated, even if past states are incomplete. The optimization only affects the accuracy of the state calculation, but it does not make the calculation impossible. The calculation may not be exact, but it can still provide a relatively close approximation of the state of the universe at any given point in time.

In essence, the universe can be thought of as a system of computations, but the accuracy of these computations can be limited by the processing power of the "host".