In The Beginning

In the beginning there existed a meta-computer, whose purpose was to initialize all the other computers. Each of the other computers is a 3D lattice of wires and logic gates. Every grid intersection contains 6 bits of data. The first bit indicates whether or not this intersection includes a logic gate (all logic gates are NAND gates). The other 5 bits indicate the configuration of 0 to 3 wires that connect with this intersection. There are 3 directions: X, Y, and Z (there are up to 6 wires connecting to each intersection, but 3 of them belong to adjacent intersections, and were already accounted for). Each direction has one of 3 wire types: absent, incoming, and outgoing. So the total no. of wiring configurations equals 3 cubed, or 27. That no. is greater than 2 ^ 4 = 16, but less than 2 ^ 5 = 32, so 5 bits are required to encode those 27 different values. See the next section for a detailed description of the workings of the meta-computer.

When the meta-computer finishes creating the current 3D lattice, that lattice starts operating as a digital computer composed of NAND gates. Then the meta-computer increments the current very large integer (up to 2 ^ 65,536), and starts working on the next 3D lattice. Eventually all possible computers built out of 2 ^ 65,533 grid intersections (each grid intersection has 6 bits of configuration data) will be created by the meta-computer. Only a tiny fraction of those computers actually work; the rest are initialized to random grid intersections and do not function.

The Computaverse theory does away with the need for an Intelligent Creator who existed before the universe (or indeed anything) was created. Instead, there exists the set of integers, in particular very large integers up to 2 ^ 65,536 bits in length. All you need is my meta-computer to breathe life into those integers, by creating a unique 3D lattice of NAND gates corresponding to each integer.

I feel that if all you need is the existence of a meta-computer and an unimaginably large no. of logic gates to account for how our universe came to be, that's a better explanation than requiring the existence of God (I was raised to be an atheist). One advantage Computaverse has over believing that everything started with the Big Bang is that everyone can comprehend how logic gates work, whereas understanding the math and physics behind the Big Bang and the "Theory of Everything" is achievable only by the few.

There's obviously a very large market (not that Computaverse is or has the potential to be a money machine) for theories of how our universe was created. Those who are religious believe that God was responsible. Those with a secular and scientific bent believe in the Big Bang and evolution. Now my Computaverse theory posits a third way: we still need the Big Bang and evolution, but the creative force behind the Big Bang was not God, but rather sentient digital life forms living in an immense digital computer (which was built from mathematically pure logic gates), and who themselves evolved from simpler digital life forms.