  This paper links the conjecture that the physical world is a virtual reality
to the findings of modern physics. What is usually the subject of science
fiction is here proposed as a scientific theory open to empirical evaluation.
We know from physics how the world behaves, and from computing how information
behaves, so whether the physical world arises from ongoing information
processing is a question science can evaluate. A prima facie case for the
virtual reality conjecture is presented. If a photon is a pixel on a
multi-dimensional grid that gives rise to space, the speed of light could
reflect its refresh rate. If mass, charge and energy all arise from processing,
the many conservation laws of physics could reduce to a single law of dynamic
information conservation. If the universe is a virtual reality, then its big
bang creation could be simply when the system was booted up. Deriving core
physics from information processing could reconcile relativity and quantum
theory, with the former how processing creates the space-time operating system
and the latter how it creates energy and matter applications.
